As American as an Oreo Cookie

Collin's responsible for having Oreos in the house.  One of the (few so far) pros of living in London so far is the biscuit options.  I won't admit to eating through an entire roll of dark chocolate digestives in one day (but two sittings) but I am a mood eater and I was seriously sad last week.  Anyway . . .

Well, I've been at the iMovie project log again.  I'm finding this a fun little hobby, learning to tell a story with moving pictures.  The kids love watching movies of themselves over and over, as most kids do, and I love having an easy way to play some of our family video clips.  This particular one is much longer than the normal person would want to sit through, so it's really just for 5000-mile-away grandparents and aunts who are deprived of their Lambourne kid interaction.  And for the kids themselves, too, naturally.

The drawback is that now they want everything videoed.  The other day Davy said something cute at the table during dinner.  We were having a homemade veggie filled soup and after a courtesy bite he said, "Wow, Mom, that's not so bad that I could eat more bites without making a face every time!"  I laughed a little and in response he said excitedly, "Mom, Mom!  You should get the camera and I'll say it again on video."  Nope, kiddo, but I'll certainly relay it in writing in our family journal!

Also, I've become aware that these videos as I've been uploading them don't play on phones or pads/tablets.  And some home computers are having trouble too.  So I've added this and a couple other recent ones to the youtube channel that hopefully you can link to if you so desire.

Cookies here.

Eliza Walking here.

Eliza Crawling here.

Swinging here.

Brothers here.

First Four Steps

She's not yet fully walking, still preferring to crawl--or better yet, be carried!--where she wants to go.  But the walking steps are starting in earnest.  Just today, in the day or two after I did this little video, Eliza's been taking more steps more often.  Between people, to people.  She is especially excited about the hugs at the end.  It's only a matter of time before she figures out the joys of toddling on her own from place to place.

Enjoy the little prelude to this toddler phase!

Pioneery Pushing Through

**I wrote this last week, after struggling through a bunch of days in a serious funk. We still don’t have internet (hopefully today!) but I’m using Collin’s phone as a wifi hotspot.  Amazing! 

I’m grateful I had a chance to simmer down and allow the fresh day and a happier outlook to decide whether I wanted to put this up.  It’s my own personal journal entry.  I debate putting this up here as I know it’s not all cupcakes and unicorns.  It is as real as real gets, however, and the feelings are valid even if perhaps overdramatic.  My mom used to say something like, “It’s perfectly okay to feel mad/angry/upset/tragic for fifteen minutes.  Then get up and go on.”  My “fifteen minutes” stretched to days, as it is sometimes wont to.  (Clinical depression is of course a different matter.  Regular blues is all I’m talking about in this case.)  I’m in the process of getting up and going on.  In the meantime, I’m putting this up for family and friends to see if they want, but mostly so that it’s part of our family’s record of this phase, from my perspective.  Knowing that my perspective will change and cheer up in time.

As of Tuesday we’re in our own little flat.  We have had to move three times to get here.  It’s been a lot of walking walking walking and lugging all of our stupid but ever-so-necessary belongings around.  Then there were the multiple trips to IKEA, that place I have a major love/hate relationship with.  Carrying a baby around, carting pounds of stuff, walking for what seems miles (but is only perhaps one) and feeling the strain on an out-of-shape body.  Miserable.  I couldn’t help but think of the pioneers around this time of year, doing the same thing times 100 years back when.  (Though rather in reverse order of what we’ve done, seeing as we’ve come back to the land of our ancestors!) 

It seems strange to equate a booming metropolis with the western desolation but it is kind of feeling like that right now.  This place is a bit *empty* right now. 

No friends. 

Completely lost all the time. 

Paying twice as much for less than half as much space.  And we’re talking Boston costs and Boston size apartment.  That’s a lot of money and a whole lot of little space.  IKEA rooms look so cute in their showspace.  Actually living in that with three children and their blasted Legos is a different story.

Lots of walking and waiting and waiting and walking. 

Crazy amounts of cigarettes being smoked everywhere. 

People have very little courtesy for “prams” (strollers) coming through. 

Having things out of our control, especially delays on public transportation. 

Knowing we’re perpetual guests in other peoples’ country.  Funny how being an American in America I feel totally entitled to live where ever I want however I want.  I use the attitude of “I can do what I chose and you can’t tell me otherwise” as easily as I eat a cookie.  Here I want to tiptoe a bit more and not assume anything or overstep my welcome.  It takes a toll.  Especially when the boys are maniacs on those scooters of theirs.  Then I’m literally worried about running over someone’s toes.

Doing laundry every stinking other day and having it constantly hanging around the house in racks that get tripped over and pulled on by babies. 

Going grocery shopping every day where people look askance at me and my big stroller and three kids trying to maneuver along the tiny aisles to get home (after walking a mile or taking a lurching bus) and realize that we have nothing to make for dinner and have to go back for more milk tomorrow. 

Missing basic staples of our diet like peanut butter, quinoa, maple syrup, frozen fruits for smoothies, real bags of real chocolate chips, dark chocolate, macaroni and cheese, graham crackers, goldfish, turkey bacon and chicken sausage.  And other random processed convenience foods.  (Allow me to regale you another time with the hilarious adventures of trying to find some of our accustomed foods.)

I miss my kitchen appliances.  My powerful fruit and veggie smoothie blender.  My Kitchenaid.  My really good pots and pans.  The gas range.  An oven that I already know all the quirks and foibles of so that I don’t keep ruining batch after batch of homemade cookies while children cry in disappointment in the background.

Most of this temporary culture shock comes as a bit of a surprise.  I guess I knew at some level it would be hard but I took for granted that the language is (mostly) the same and much of the cultural understandings are as well.  I’ve done this adjustment several times in my life so far and thought that had to count for something.  Maybe it’s not even truly culture shock.  I suppose my expectations for certain things and the reality of it all are at a dissonance right now and that’s what’s bugging.

I feel like the biggest loser complaining about being in London.  I know I’m the most selfish American stereotype imaginable.  But sometimes you just gotta vent a bit, no?

It’s so hard to move.  It’s just hard.  There is loss and inconvenience.  Adjustments—big and small—have to be made.  That takes effort and energy.  I feel lonely and overwhelmed and cramped and confused.  Why in the world did we leave our lovely home and friends and family behind?  How did the sacrifice I’m feeling now ever seem worth it?  What are all those other people meaning when they say they loved living in London?  Cause just now I’m totally not seeing it.  I hate it here in this little flat in this big big smelly city and I hate the inconvenience of it all.  Traveling with very small children is miserable for everyone involved.  Why are we doing this again?  Why was this a good idea?  When can we go back home?

Well, enough of that emotional drama.  I’m tired of being sick of it all.  Being even temporarily depressed is not really very pleasant.  Honestly, though, this very second I’m not quite ready to put on the happy face and push to the other side where things are bright and cheery again.  That’ll come maybe in the morning.

At least it’s not all pent up inside any more and I can shake it and hopefully get more of that pioneer spirit to keep walking.  The sunrise over the mountains is a glorious sight.  I know that.  I’ll report back when I find the London equivalent.  I hear the lights of Westminster over the Thames at night are pretty lovely.  Maybe one of these nights we’ll find someone we trust to watch the children and I can see London at night.  Heaven knows I am not bringing cranky children up past bedtime or out in the winter cold to try and experience something as subtle as that.

City Bugs

Recently I was reading a blog of a friend of a friend who lived in London just before we came (who gave us a bunch of excellent advice) and she mentioned that in their urban London life their family spent more time at parks and in nature than they do now in their suburban American lifestyle.  How funny she said that, just as I was thinking that so far we've spent a good amount of time at parks ourselves, communing with the green world.  On behalf of my children, I give thanks to God in the most sincere way possible that we found a teeming insect world in the concrete jungle.

There is a courtyard at our temp housing that is communally shared by a hotel and several apartment buildings.  The boys have spent hours most afternoons in the past week in scooting races with other kids and looking for bugs in the garden shrubbery.  Besides the rolly-pollies and ants and other assorted insects, Edward found this remarkably handsome caterpillar and we brought him inside as our "first pet ever."  Poor thing has been loved to an early death.  No metamorphosis for this one, but he did fulfil the measure of his creation by making two boys over-the-moon thrilled at his existence.  

The naming conversation went like this:  

Eddy--We should name him Green Sticky because he is sticky and sticks to things.  

Davy--No, how about we name him Green Lantern because that is a cooler name.  

Eddy--Oh, okay!  Green Sticky Lantern.  

Davy--No, no.  What about just Green Sticky.  That's the best name.  

Eddy--Yeah, Green Sticky!

Eliza hasn't been too involved in the bug hunt, but she has found the freedom of the courtyard very welcome.  She's exploring in an ever-widening circle around me.  She has also begun to branch out to more standing practice and is taking walking with hand-help very seriously.  She gets super annoyed if the ground she's crawling on is poky or hot (plain dirt does not deter her in the least) and she has started to figure out standing from a squat.  I'm not hurrying her along in any way.  But, it seems like she'll take the plunge sometime soon.  Eek.

While the boys are with their bugs, she is all about the flowers.  She's got her pointing down and she is half and half gentle and vicious with the blossoms.

She loves being able to be understood sometimes.  Here she is saying "up" to Daddy and he totally got it!

Eliza's learning her body parts at an impressive rate.  Off the top of my head she is solid on eyes, nose, ears, teeth, tongue, cheeks, hair, neck, toes, fingers, belly button.  She can point to her own on command and tries to find them on the asker's body as well.  Just today she was figuring out elbow, neck, and chest.

She finds her shoes when asked to, even when I can't find one or the other of the pair.  She understands "sit down" but rarely does.  She pulled out some awesome pouts for Daddy today.  She found his phone in his pocket and put back the boring plain paper.  Pretty much the perfect toddler, in my opinion.

Speak Now!

It's been suggested (though perhaps somewhat facetiously) that we propose a survey to you all, any who may have an interest in visiting or meeting up with us in the next two years.

"I suppose you may bring your friends, if you will."

Collin will analyze the results, so mind you answer carefully.  ;)

But, we won't hold you to your responses.  This is just to give us an idea how much interest in what.  What should we scope out before to be sure we're ready to bring you?  What ought we to wait on for guests?  Does anyone really love us enough to travel ten hours on a plane on a ticket that costs a month's wages? 

You're also totally welcome to view/fill out the survey just for kicks, even if you have no intention of crossing the pond in the next couple years.  We'd love your feedback on what are the most important sites and sights to see.

Muffins on Drury Lane

Oh yes, we know that muffin man who lives on Drury Lane (or close enough).

We went on a food blitz through Covent Garden this afternoon.  First, pastries from Balthazar and enjoyed on the Drury Lane street corner, in honor of the song.  If you'd passed by while we were there you would have heard some singing, too.

This is Eddy's "it's all gone?" face.  Sad, isn't it?

(The other food we sampled got eaten too quickly for any pictures, so just use your imagination and know that it looked and tasted better than that!)

After watching a crazy contortionist show in the central courtyard area of Covent Garden we got pizza slices at Home Slice and man, was it tasty!  Then the most rich and creamy gelato from Venchi.  Yes, all in a matter of hours.  And you better know we'd do it again in a second given the chance!

Muffins and Beasts

Beauty and the Beast, as retold by Eddy

The beast comes and the princess says, "Are you going to kill me?"  And the beast takes her prisoner.  Then the princess is scared of the beast and she thought the beast would kill her.  But he didn't.  Then they are friends.  And they are nice to each other.

Greenwich (First Try--Will Be Back)

Saturday had rain forecast but it ended up being such a lovely day.  Perfect for a small excursion to Greenwich.  Unfortunately, about a zillion other tourists had the same idea we had, to visit the Royal Observatory and experience being in two hemispheres at once.  So we'll save that for another, less trafficked day.  It means another hike--literally, that hill is steep!--with three children but if we can beat the crowds it'll be worth it.  Besides being foiled on that score, we had a great time exploring some of the town.  

We were impressed at the size of the tea ship, Cutty Sark, sitting proudly in its museum perch right by the Thames.  We shared a warm and crispy dulce de leche-filled churro at the Greenwich Market (and was also inspired by some of the artists to make our own London souvenir art).

 

The kids and Dad played at the playground while I (Rachel) walked the galleries of the Queen's House museum by myself (see the tulip staircase from below and the indoor courtyard from above)

We finally (three weeks in seems like "finally") had fish and chips at a little fish and chips pub, and did not have any ice cream.  In addition to those churros, however, we did pick up a scrumptious cheesecake at Waitrose and ate half of it after dinner.  So we weren't exactly deprived.  I love Saturdays with Collin.

In other news, we have moved about a mile to another temporary flat, waiting for July 22 when our actual place is free for moving in.  I'm pretty sick of this moving around and feeling unsettled.  On a positive note, we have new surroundings to explore and a new view from our 8th floor windows to enjoy.  And I realized that when we do move to the flat we signed a year contract for, we will be within walking distance of Abbey Road.  That means multiple attempts at a good Beatles photo would be within reason.  ;)

Busy Girl, Eliza

Because it's been several weeks now without a full Eliza feature and it's about time for an update.

Eliza is busy busy.  She is crawling and climbing everywhere.  She's showing little interest in walking on her own, though sometimes she enjoys walking while holding our hands.  She can balance standing on her own for a bit of time if she's occupied holding a toy or figuring something out but if we draw attention to her balancing act she grins and loses her groove.

She is more settled this week than last and her good humor has returned, for the most part.  I think any remaining temper issues have more to do with the advent of toddlerhood than anything else. She went two mornings out and about strapped in the stroller last week without a complete meltdown, so that was some serious (necessary) improvement on our current change in lifestyle.

Liza Bee knows a number of ASL signs that she uses regularly to communicate with us.  So nice to know exactly what's on her mind.  I mean, we could probably guess, as it's usually either food, milk, more or play, but anyway it's great to know for sure.  She also has such nice manners when she signs.  She does please and thank you and all done beautifully, and throws in bath, diaper, help (only once or twice--it's a hard one), and plenty of very clear index-finger pointing.  She also waves quite friendly-like to people passing by, on the train or in the tube station.  Unless they wave at her first, then she gets all shy.

I was chuckling to myself the other day when I realized exactly how many bee things were close at hand (and these are not all of them).  Name a child after a great-grandmother who was a lover of her name and a collector of all things bee, and add to that the amount of adorable bee things available for kids and I've got a problem limiting our bee-thing acquiring. 

She loves it when we sing.  When it's lullaby time before nap or bed she rests her head so snug against my shoulder and listens.  If we're singing a fun song she perks up and sometimes joins in.

Her best talent is entertaining and being entertained by the brothers.  (I honestly feel so sorry for Davy, he must have been the most bored baby ever.)  She wakes up hours (yes, hours) before the boys do and so must play by herself for a long time before they come.  She'll crawl to the door and yell through the crack, "Brothers, brothers!  Edward, brothers!"  Then she'll come over to me as I'm lying on the couch trying to catch a few more winks of sleep and poke me and tell me to "wake up."

Everything is a phone.  The remotes (there are plenty in our temporary housing), the kindle, the real phone--all serve as a thing to push buttons and hold a conversation.  She chats away for lengths of time.

I've been obsessed over baby girl's hair recently.  It's getting so long and I don't have to think about cutting it!  As the boys neared and passed their first birthdays I dreaded cutting their baby hair.  Luckily for this little girl it is socially acceptable to let it go long.  The color is pretty, sometimes in just the right light seeming to have some tinges of strawberry among the golden brown.  After bath her hair goes wild and I love the crazy.

Live Long and Prosper

This is rather random in my line up of updates.  I was going through all the photos in my iPhoto since the last back up, before we left the US and I found several gems that never made it on here.  We'll see if I get to any of the others, but in any case, this series is high up on the priority list.

Davy worked so hard for months to learn how to do the Vulcan (Start Trek) hand sign for "live long and prosper" just like his Abba had shown him.  He was so frustrated it didn't come easily (which is very characteristic, so we weren't surprised by the level of angst he demonstrated).  He worked and worked at it until finally, one day, his fingers just cooperated!  And voila!  He's a happy kid. 

What a fantastic big brother our Davy is.

Eddy's blank stare.  This is the one he has on as we're repeatedly calling his name and trying to catch his eye.  No wonder Eliza's first name was "Ewar" she hears it so often.

When I finally do get his attention, it's only to point out that he has a bit of snack still on his lip.  Man oh man, this kid.

And since I had the camera out and was figuring out the self-timer remote capacities . . .  

(Side note, we are making more progress on the frustration and measure of success front.  Just today he figured out--in his own space and time where I left him--a difficult climbing structure at a new playground.  He commented, "That was hard but I did it and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be!")