Managing, and even enjoying life!

Yet another picture of Edith sitting in the pushcahir and smiling. A little dull, I know, but I never get tired of it!


Thomas the Tank Engine outside the grocery store


He had a great time riding in the sholly (shopping trolly that we use to deliver Kleeneze brochures) until it fell ofer and he got a giant goose egg and some road burn on his forehead.



Playing at our new favorite place--the playground on Butts Road is really close to our house and is all enclosed by tall hedges and blackberries. Dylan can run free and I don't have to take us all the way up to the other end of Barton for him to do it!

Budget constraints...

Martin and I have been gradually getting used to less and less money! The change has been so slow that it hasn't been very noticeable--until this week.

We are broke. We are budget watching, portion size cutting, toilet paper stealing, potty training from necessity broke! It is hard, surviving on Martin's pittance with me not working.

The worst part is, I'm not ABLE to work, even if I could get a good job, because Edith won't take a bottle. I'm currently trying to drum up some massage clients and Martin is doing a little maintenance job for a couple tonight to earn some extra money.

We've felt really poor quite a few times, but have never actually been this strapped for cash before. I am wondering where we're going to get the money to buy Edith's diapers and milk for Dylan next week. We have to drive to church tomorrow (because I'm speaking in Sacrament meeting) and have to find the money for petrol somewhere. I'm just waiting for the miracle that should happen since we are trying to do the right thing.

Luckily, though I don't have a year's supply of food due to budget and space constraints, I DO have quite a bit of food in the house. I even found an extra bit of minced beef that I didn't know I had, and I nearly cried for joy! I will be able to feed us, I think, without buying groceries for about 5 days. After that I will need to buy basics like milk and butter and cheese. We can manage on very little money for about a month with what I've got in the cupboards.

Anybody have any great recipes that just use sunshine and smiles?

Fingers crossed!

A little outing...

Yesterday we took Dylan and Edith to Normanby Hall. When we were there on Tuesday (Martin went golfing) we bought a season pass since it pays for itself with just two trips. I decided it would be a good place to spend lots of time and let Dylan run around to his heart's content, and I decided that we would milk it for every penny!

The picture above is of the Victorian walled garden. It is incredibly beautiful and functional, with vegetables growing amidst herbaceous borders and flowers of all kind. They have fruit trees trained flat along walls and into low lying borders and the tall walls create an incredible micro-climate that allows them to grow figs even in a cool climate. Dylan had a great time "helping" a few of the gardeners rake paths, and they were good to let him.

We also had a good time chasing the peacocks and looking at butterflies and ladybugs, which there are a ton of at the moment! A ladybug flew onto Dylan's face at one point, and he squealed like a little girl and flapped around in a low level panic until we got it off!

Normanby hall has a deer park, the hall (of course), a formal garden, acres and acres of lawn, a golf course, a duck pond, an adventure playground, a farming museum, a model railway, a butterfly border, and lots of woodland. It is incredibly beautiful right now!

England in the summer is intense! I much prefer spring, with it's tender buds and delicate blooms, and the way green slowly creeps back after the cold, gray winter. I also prefer autumn, with the berries and the apples on the trees and the genteel way the leaves so gradually lose their color and their leaves. But summer is humid and heavy in a way I never would have expected. Everything is a varied shade of green, and it is velvety and lush.

I miss the desert of Utah more than I could have imagined, but I have come to love this quirky little country with it's strange (but wonderful) people, it's history, and it's incredible beauty. I am enjoying it especially this year since it is likely to be our last one here. I am savoring the green and the wet and the wild blackberries, which are just beginning to ripen.

The Butts Road park...

Dylan always loves going down the slide. I remember when he was about 10 months old and he started flinging himself down the slide head first. SCARY! Now he sits on his bum like a "big boy" to go down, but he still has no fear.


Edith got her first ever turn on the swing yesterday, and she shared with Dylan. We asked him to give her a big hug, and this was the result. He loves his little sister.


I couldn't resist laying Edith down on this patch of clover. The grass is so green at the minute because we just had a week of rain, and it was so thick and lush. Plus, I knew it would look fantastic with her lovely red hair.


And then, of course, I wanted to get a few pictures of us together.


This one is just because her little feet looked so cute waving around in the air. Her feet are really narrow, and they look even smaller because her little legs are so chubby. She's so lovely I could just eat her up!

A pick-me-up...

Some of you may have noticed that I've been feeling a bit blue lately. I've been angry and frustrated with the kids. Mostly I've been tired and run down. It happens to everyone. I think it was mostly a tiredness issue.

Well, in the grand tradition of Jamie I did what I seem to do quite often for a pick me up. I dyed my hair. I dyed it a shade of red that I haven't used for quite some time. And it's permanent. It was only done last night, so we'll see if it proves to be the magic elixer I've been after. It certainly makes me LOOK less tired. I hadn't realized how many gray hairs I had until this morning when I looked in the mirror and they were all gone.

Also helpful--Edith slept through last night! I can't believe what a difference that is making already today. 6 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep make a girl feel like a million dollars--especially when we've been getting about 7 hours a night with at least two (though usually three) interruptions.

I'm so glad that I breastfeed my babies, but MAN is it hard work sometimes. It honestly feels like the hardest thing in the world at 3 in the mornign when I have to drag myself into a sitting position and stay awake for around 20 minutes. For the past few days I've actually fallen asleep whilst feeding her. I wish she would take a bottle, but part of me is glad that she won't. I know that if she would take a bottle, I would pack it in and just give her bottles until she moved to a cup at 1 year. I am looking forward to having my body back to myself. 3 years is a long time to be pregnant and/or breastfeeding!

Sometimes he just doesn't understand...

It was a pretty good weekend, all things considered. All things being the fact that weekends are basically meaningless now. Martin works all day on Saturday and Sunday is a lot of hard work!

I have decided that we need to try to make weekends a bit special, so now we are having a weekly date night and I am trying to make sure we do something fun on Saturday evenings. So we had snacks and games on Friday and Jen and Howard came over on Saturday.

Sunday was OK. Church is not much fun any more now that we have kids. But it went well enough and I got an assignment to speak next week, so that's kind of fun. We left early because Martin was playing football for the people of Barton vs. Barton police game. We left church early and rushed to get there, only to discover that the kickoff time had been moved back and we were actually about an hour early.

This is the bit where we get to the not understanding.

Martin thinks he can just carry on like he did before we had kids. He signed up to play in this game and then told me he did it. When we were childless, it wouldn't have been a big deal. I would have gone, worn a skirt or shorts to get some sun on my legs, and read a good book. But now, with two kids to look after, it's not that easy. Martin goes and plays a game--around two hours if it's football and more if it's baseball--and he has a great time. I spend the whole time looking after the kids. I chase Dylan around and try to keep him from running onto the pitch or in to the car park. I have to keep giving him drinks and snacks and comforting him when he hurts himself. I have to keep him entertained and happy. And I have to do this whilst trying to feed Edith, change Edith, burp Edith, etc. And I have to do all of this while Martin is out having a good time.

One could argue that I don't have to go to his sporting events. True, but if I stay at home it just adds to the many hours that I already spend here alone with the kids. Plus, I think it's important for the kids to get out in the fresh air and see new things.

I wish I had a hobby that made things really difficult for Martin!

lazy afternoon photo shoot...

Martin makes me laugh...

Martin didn't know that you could "snap" a Snapdragon until about 4 weeks ago. He was amazed when I showed him what happens when you squeeze the "cheeks" of the flower and he plays with them every time he seems some now.

He flails his arms around like a maniac when he starts to run.

He bought Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii with some of his birthday money, even though we don't own a Wii. The game is living at the Mundays' house because they DO have a Wii, and he will play it when we go over there to visit.

I love my husband.

Dylan update:

He has had a nap in the afternoon for the last 2 days, and it is making a huge difference--day AND night. He is still waking up early, but he's not waking up in the middle of the night. I have to spend about an hour during the day to try to get him in to bed, and sometimes it hardly seems worth it. But having my happy boy back instead of a whining and clinging little monster makes that hour seem like nothing!

I think he is just going through a phase where he's terrified that we're going to leave him. He kind of panics at night as well, which he hasn't done for nearly 18 months now. He hates to have his bedroom door shut and we kind of have to hover near the door until he falls asleep. It's a pain, and I'm hoping he stops needing that soon.

Edith is good, of course. She started having baby rice a few days ago, and absolutely loves the stuff. Dylan wouldn't have it, but Edith can't get enough! She is sleeping more during the day now that she's having it, though it hasn't translated to night time sleeping yet. She also sat up on her own for about 30 seconds on Manday. I am looking forward to her sitting up, but sitting means that she'll be crawling soon, and then she won't be my tiny little baby any more. That really makes me sad. This is going way too fast!

I've decided that my recent mood has more to do with my post-pregnancy hormone crash than anything else. After all, my hair has started falling out. That's a pretty good indication that the hormone levels are changing pretty dramatically. So I just need to ride this out and try to stay happy. I'll give it a few weeks to sort itself out, and if I can't shake it then I will go see my doctor. I promised myself that I would not let myself suffer from depression this time because I don't want to be unhappy with my beautiful Edith.

I should have some good pictures to post after the weekend. Martin is playing in the People of Barton vs. Barton Police football match. He's playing for the police though, since they were short of players. He's looking forward to it, and if the weather's nice we will be having a picnic in the park and then going to the Maize Maze at Thornton Abbey with Christine. England is so beautiful this time of year!

Just thinking...

I've had a tough two weeks. Dylan isn't sleeping well, Edith is still waking up for night feeds and is going through a growth spurt so I am feeding her a lot during the day as well. The house seems impossible to keep clean and if I'm not wiping dirty bottoms I'm attempting to keep the house tidy. I feel overworked and VASTLY underpaid and underappreciated. I have honestly wanted out of this whole housewife gig. But I was thinking yesterday...

Yes, I always have my hands full. My hands are full of cleaning supplies, wipes, diapers, dirty laundry, pots and pans. But because my hands are full, my arms are full as well. And my arms are full because I have my beautiful family to hold.

Does this make my day-to-day life any easier? Not really. I still have all those jobs to do. I still have an increasingly difficult toddler and a hungry and demanding baby (who has started biting and STILL won't take a bottle). But I will try to remember why I am doing all these things. I am doing them because I love my husband and my chiildren, and I want them to be happy. And the key to my own happiness is not getting what I want, but wanting what I've got.

So here's hoping that this week is an improvement!

My amazing boys...

Last night, after getting both of our kids put down for bed, Martin walked in to the living room and said the sexiest thing in the whole world...

"I remembered this trick from 'Super Nanny'..."

Dylan seems to have gotten over the worst of the teething pain and isn't nearly as difficult to deal with. He's still throwing paddies, but hasn't had any childrens' ibuprofen for over 24 hours now and is still bearable. And he's been sleeping SLIGHTLY later. Today he was up at 5:50 and Martin and I slept in shifts so we could each get a bit of extra shut eye.

One thing that seems to be helping his behavior and moods is the decrease in television watching. I decided that if he wasn't going to behave well and sleep a decent amount, he wasn't going to get to watch cartoons. This started as a punishment for him not napping any more, which was totally mean of me but had such great results that I hardly feel bad about it at all. He still asks for "Icky Ouse," but he is playing with his toys, asking to go outside and for walks, and just generally behaving better.

Dylan is also developing an insatiable curiosity about what Martin and I are doing--especially in the kitchen. The phrase we hear most often is "see please." It drives me crazy, but I'm glad he's interested all the same.

For all that, Edith is still the good one!

The grown-ups...

Our downstairs (almost) shower...

Didn't we do a great job of tiling? Go team, go!

Dylan and Edith

This endless week...

Dylan has chosen to quit taking naps and start waking up at 5 am at a very bad time--when he's getting his 2 year molars. This has been a very long week so far!

He's also been referred to the surgical consult team for his little "man bits" problem. They don't do the surgery in Scunthorpe so we will have to go to Sheffield for the procedure. The pediatrician says it's very minor surgery with very little pain as a result, and I'm glad we're going to get it sorted here and now.

So yeah, we're pretty much keeping Dylan on a drip of childrens' ibuprofen and trying to get him to sleep any way we can. I hadn't realized how much I have come to depend on my daily child free time. Rumor has it that the government is piloting a funding scheme for pre-school for 2 year olds. I may be able to get Dylan in to 15 or so hours a week for free. That would be so great!

Edith continues to be a joy, getting prettier with each passing day and just generally being a happy and delightful baby. Her only flaw, still, is that she still refuses to take a bottle. But she is so good natured and chilled out! She loves to listen to the sound of her own voice and is really coming into her own in that regard. She is still quite big, but is incredibly long. She has chubby little legs and the tiniest ankles in the whole world.

We have had a good day today at least. We went in to Scunthorpe for Dylan's hospital appointment, did a little bit of shopping, grabbed some lunch, and then drove back to Barton. We took a walk at the Humber Bridge viewing area, which is lovely right now. On the footpath down to the ponds there are a load of plum trees--totally uncultivated and growing in the hedge. We picked a bunch of plums and I am planning to make some plum jam. Then Martin and Dylan played on the playground equipment while I fed Edith. Then it was home and getting dinner on. It's cooking now.

The weather was perfect today--just right for an English summer. Our kids were (reasonably) well behaved and beautiful(as always). So even though Dylan is giving us fits, at least we've had one good day!

More sleepless nights...

Today finds me up at the crack of dawn once more. Edith and Martin are sleeping peacefully upstairs and Dylan and I are watching cartoons. He's been up since 5 am. I don't know how he can function on the amount of sleep he's been getting. He cried himself to sleep on his bedroom floor yesterday and got about a half hour of sleep. Then I took him to the Ulceby church fete and the Mundays' house and he ran around like a madman for 4 hours. He got to bed late and his sleep was disturbed when we came home. And he STILL woke up early. What else can I do?

I honestly think that I'm going to have to start going to bed at 9 pm. How lame is that?

I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to be a very long day. Sundays are really rubbish for me anyway, with the 4 1/2 hour ordeal of church (it takes us 30 minutes to get there and get home, plus chatter time after the meetings) and all of the rest of stuff that's involved in getting us there and home. Sunday throws off nap schedules, and if it's a home game it also involves the mess of keeping the kids entertained at a baseball game.

Today we will be leaving church early because Martin is going to work. He's put in a long week this week!

I've had quite a few days this week when I wanted to pack this whole motherhood/housewife thing in, ship the kids off to daycare, get a job, and not bother with cooking and cleaning and wiping dirty bottoms all day long. Honestly, most of the time I love being a wife and mother now. But the nights have been too short and the days have been so long. I've had no time to myself, and I really NEED that time. I am tired.

In other news, I've found the house that I want when we move home. It's in Heber, so is close to Park City but not as expensive as buying a house there. It's in our price range, and is one of the older homes. The inside is beautiful, though it is classed as a "fixer." It needs a little bit of work, but nothing like what we've had to do here. The outside needs a coat of paint and some serious landscaping. But it's a quirky house with 4 bedrooms and fun little historical features. Downsides include the fact that there is no garage and it's on a busy street, but it is on a corner lot and has a chain link fence all around it so it is safe for kids even if the fence is ugly.

Finding this house has really spurred me on in my desire to get this house sold. When I got the pictures that I requested from the realtor I immediately got all fired up to get the finishing touches jobs done here. I spent that evening scraping more wallpaper, and I will do the same again tonight.

You know when you see a house and you can just picture yourself living there? That's how I feel about this one!

I'm going to take this early morning opportunity to get some work done on my church calling. I hesitate to do it because my brain is really fuzzy this time of day, but I might as well be productive. I'm going to be awake for a lot of hours today and might as well get a lot done during them. On the bright side, I don't have a baby latched on to me feeding right now so at least both of my hands are free!

Sleepless nights were supposed to be over...

Edith has always been a great night time sleeper. Dylan has been a great night time sleeper for well over a year now. But last night was a rough one. Let's just put it this way--I got a cumulative total of around 4 hours of sleep. Martin got about 6. And it wasn't the newborn who did it to us!

Today Dylan is having no television and is spending as much time as possible outside. I debated whether to let him have a nap or not, but my own exhaustion won out. I will need to sleep when the kids godown for a nap. He simply MUST have a good night's sleep tonight.

It's almost impossible for me to function on less than 7 hours of sleep, even if it doesn't come all at once. This should be a great day as Martin is working all day and has a church meeting in Scunthorpe tonight!

Hooray for the NHS, again!

Because we are currenly "low income" (well, pretty much in poverty to be honest), we qualify for free dental care from the NHS. The dentists are pretty hard to get and we had been on a waiting list for about a year. We finally got registered, and we went today.

True, they aren't doing a "de-scale and polish" on us. Apparently, we don't really need it. But I have a tooth that's chipped just below a filling and am getting it fixed for free. F - R - E - E - free!!! Well, I have to pay the bridge toll since the dentist is across the Humber in Hessle, but £5.40 is a small price to pay for having good teeth.

Dylan was pretty good at the dentist. He was OK with opening his mouth for the dentist to look inside, but he wouldn't let him put that little mirror thing in his mouth. He got a giant Spiderman sticker for being so good though. I just don't want him to have a bad dental experience and end up afraid of going to the dentist for the rest of his life.

Even Edith was seen, though she doesn't have any teeth yet. The dentist confirmed my suspicion that she is about to get a few teeth. I signed her up because I didn't know when the next opportunity to get her in would be.

I don't know how we'll manage when we move back to the U.S. and have to pay for all of this. But I'm still excited to go!

Lewis came over this afternoon and helped Martin do some tiling in the bathroom. They worked really hard and got quite a bit of it done.



Unfortunately, they didn't finish it. That meant that Dylan couldn't get his bath tonight. And it meant that Edith got hers here...




Everybody needs a picture of themselves having a bath in the kitchen sink!

Pictures...

Dylan and Nathan (Munday) enjoyed some cartoons this evening. Nathan with his thumb in his mouth, and Dylan had just pulled his finger out of his nose. Little boys--how charming!



Caitlin is completely obsessed with Edith and begs me to let her hold the baby every time she sees us. She's so good with her!



Martin and Dylan enjoy an icecream cone on Barton bike night. Well, Martin enjoyed his icecream. Dylan just likes the cone. He bit the bottom off his cone and left the icecream alone. Little weirdo!



Martin and I both really liked this vintage bike, made in Barton at the Hopper factory at the turn of the century.

Edith has a bath with daddy...