Thoughts and Words Ill-Sorted

Nathaniel is happiest when he’s managed to pull a blanket over his head, or when he’s turned his face into the pillow or my sweater.  He apparently thinks normal air has too much oxygen for his comfort.

Erin

Upon waking up today I realized it is Mother’s Day.  Much unhappy confusion in my brain as I tried to figure out how I overlooked such a thing, why I thought it was later in the year, and what I was going to do, since it was a bit late to send cards overseas and have them arrive in time.  It’s even pre-printed in my planner!

Only after much urging from Sydney to confirm that I had the date right (“My planner says so!  The flowers and cards are advertised all over the street!”) did I consult Wikipedia . . . and find that the UK celebrates mothers a month or so ahead of the US and Canada.  My planner, though the same kind as the one I bought in the US, was bought over here last fall, and thus records the UK holidays, rather than the American ones.  So, Moms, I have felt much guilt on your behalf this weekend, and I am glad that I have some time to try again.  I suppose it would still be good to call home.

Erin

Which is why it’s so nice to have him tucked under a lovely new blanket from our friend Lauren.  Since she introduced Sydney and me during our junior year of college, she probably feels particularly responsible for the little one’s being here.  Nathaniel is quite grateful for a blanket of his very own, particularly since we weren’t able to bring many with us to the UK and because I recently (unthinkingly) took him out to the park when he was wrapped in his sister’s pink-flowered blanket.  As you can see from his expression in the picture above (“Really, Mother.”) he was mortified.

Yes, the pacifier is currently quite important for keeping him happy.  Yes, that furrowed brow is him happy.

Erin

I took Nathaniel for his six-week checkup this morning, at which the doctor confirmed what I’d been suspecting all along: I’ve got a stellar kid on my hands.  Our doctor is generally a fairly enthusiastic person, but she was really quite pleased at his development thus far.  He’s gaining nicely in weight, size, motor skills, attention, etc.  Not to mention that he sat happily in my lap without crying for the entire half-hour meeting.  When I came home and looked at Katherine, I realized that she, too, was a good baby; I was just too new a mother to realize it at the time.  But it’s somewhat humbling to have a doctor who has seen a lot of babies confirm that Nathaniel’s doing really well.

I’m probably particularly keen on him at the moment since he let me sleep four hours before first waking last night.  I won’t get too attached to that sleep, since I’m sure we’ll be up and down again, but it’s a nice bonus. So I should be very, very grateful to have landed such happy little ones.  And I should enjoy it even more since I know that all of that can change once the teething starts!

One thing I find rather odd about the British physicians: they don’t seem nearly as keen on weighing and measuring as their counterparts in the States.  We have no idea of Nathaniel’s length, since they apparently don’t measure that anymore, and the doctor seemed quite fine taking my bathroom-scale account of his recent weight.  Although part of me would like to know a bit more, since it’s fun cheering on the growth, another part of me remembers how inaccurate the measurements for Katherine could be; at one appointment she seemed to have shrunk an inch or two from her birth length!  So I appreciate the Brits’ tacit acknowledgement of the impossibility of baby-measuring accuracy.

Erin

This morning I took the kids to a playground that’s about 1.5 miles from our house, much of which I can walk along a lovely canal path.  It’s a great playground for kids Katherine’s size, and it promised to be a gorgeous day.  My goal was to keep us there until I’d finally worn Katherine out, since on previous trips I’d only been able to stay just long enough for Katherine to get attached . . . and thus scream bloody murder when we had to leave.  Well, I stayed close to two hours today and she still wasn’t done, so we had some more screaming, but the look of delight on her face when I would push her on the swing was worth it.  It’s now warm enough for me to take Nathaniel out and about pretty easily, so we had a great morning.  Although I love our backpack, it was great just being able to push the two in the stroller once play time was over, particularly since I added about twenty pounds in groceries on our way home.

While I was at the park another mom complimented me on being out and about with both kids and asked a few questions about how I was faring with them.  She is expecting her second in a few months and was hoping to get some sense for what her new life would be like.  I was glad to give her confidence that, yes, one can go out with two kids, but I also remember the shape I was in after Katherine was born, and that there was no way I’d have been able to take her out on such a trip even when it was just her!  So I found myself, once again, treading the line between “You can do it!  Go get your sunshine!” and “Don’t count on it.  And don’t beat yourself up if you can’t!”  So much depends on the kids . . . and also, perhaps, on your desperation for time outside and your tolerance for public embarrassment 🙂

Erin

This morning we met up with a family we’ve become friends with for a trip to Blenheim Palace (http://blenheimpalace.com/).  Apparently it’s one of the largest palaces in England, at roughly seven acres of living space, and it’s the home of the Duke of Marlborough and the birthplace of Winston Churchill.  An impressive affair all around.  Best yet, it’s only eight miles from Oxford and an easy bus ride at that.

For most of our day, though, the palace looked more like this:

Since our trip included four kids under the age of four, we were more interested in walking some of the grounds of the palace and having a picnic.

Although we walked several miles we only covered a small portion of the 2100 acres that comprise the parks.  The area was beautiful: rolling hills, huge, old trees, small lakes, and well-maintained paths.

It is a vast park with great places to roam and enjoy the sheep, pheasants, and deer.  We’re making promises to ourselves to go back, particularly once the leaves start to come out.  And we can also try touring the palace itself, or the “pleasure grounds” that house a butterfly house, a small train, and other things designed especially for children.

The kids did really well on the trip.  Although we like our stroller (and I may take it next time, since there’s such a lot of ground to be covered), we decided to backpack the kids for this outing; we broke down and bought a second backpack recently, since we continue to use ours so much for Katherine but want to use one for Nathaniel, as well.  Nathaniel slept nicely in the backpack, and Katherine spent the day climbing in and out of Sydney’s pack, walking much of the way down the paths and on the grass.  She collapsed into a nap after we got home, though, having walked a lot today and missed her normal nap. 

Erin

I just finished doing our taxes.  When I started looking into the rules for foreign income the language immediately became more complex and the questions more nuanced.  After looking at one form for about four hours I finally realized that the US thinks that you must be doing something both dodgy and lucrative if you’re making money abroad.  The guy who answered my tax questions at the embassy concurred: “Nobody would move to England for that little money!”  Indeed.

Erin

I don’t claim to have much of a memory of what Katherine was like in the first month or two of her life.  I remember her eating a lot, and of her gaining wait at roughly twice the average rate, and of there being a lot of diapers (a lot of diapers) to change.  Nathaniel seems quite different to me, though much of that difference has to do with our household being different.  I know how diapers work by this point, and I’m used to doing laundry all of the time, so he’s just added into the mix.  He does eat a lot, but it’s a lot less painful and complex than it was with Katherine, largely because it’s not new to me.  But he does seem to be quite a different shape: longer limbs, bigger hands and feet, fewer fat rolls.  I worried for about half a second that he was skinnier and I wasn’t feeding him enough (since he’s not terribly fussy).  But I just weighed him, and he comes in at 13 1/2 pounds.  As in, he is at 5 1/2 weeks what Katherine was at 8 weeks.  He started out half a pound heavier, but he doesn’t seem to be gaining weight any less rapidly as a result!  Okay, so he’s just big.  Which is why those 3-6-month and even 6-9-month clothes are fitting pretty well; apparently it’s not just the cloth diaper!

So I think I just missed my opportunity to carry a “light” baby in the backpack.  Sigh.

Erin