Wednesday: Oliver slept ok – the first 4 hours in the borrowed pack-n-play crib (called a cot here!), then the rest of the night back with me, after he woke up crying. I can understand – strange new place, nothing familiar, it must be pretty scary for a little one! He slept about 9 or so hours, not his usual full night but certainly pretty good! He was happy for the first hour or so, then started to get fussy – he’s clearly not caught up on all his missing sleep yet. Still, we went to a local garden center this morning which is quite big and has a wonderful mini-train ride all around it – through tunnels, woods, gardens, etc. – Maurice says he’s been waiting 40 years to take his grandchild for a ride on it!! Since Oliver was a bit fussy by then, I took him around for the first ride, with Carole sitting next to us, and once we got going he loved it. But by the time we tried for the second ride with Maurice, poor Oliver was inconsolable. No worries, we’ll be going back soon and Granddaddy will get his ride with Oliver!!
Auntie Mavis (Carole’s sister) met us at the garden center towards the end, and we all headed home to a great lunch of homemade soup. This was Mavis’ first time meeting Oliver, and it wasn’t till after his nap that she really got to see the good side of him!! In the afternoon we went to Bramhall Park, which was gorgeous and has an incredible Elizabethan manor in the middle of it, overlooking a valley with a river and lake below. We brought bread to feed the ducks and geese, and Oliver got the hang of it after a bit. Once in a while he tossed a piece in his mouth instead of out to the birds! He also had great fun in the playground there. When we got home, we had dinner (Oliver has learned to help “set” the table!) and then Neil stopped by for a visit after work, and also met Oliver for the first time – he says he can really see Andy in him!
Now (Thursday) I'm off to stay with Chloe for 2 nights in Bagshot (near London) - my flight is at 3:30pm. Andy comes up tonight after finishing work in London, so I'm going to miss him! I'll be back Saturday night, and Sunday is his big 100 mile bike ride (the Polka Dot Challenge) through the peak district - that link will tell you all about it. He's been working hard to get ready for it - can't wait to go and cheer him on! In the meantime, I'll be having girly fun with Chloe, and Oliver will be looked after by his dad and grandparents - no diapers for me for two whole days! But I'll miss my little lamb.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
What a journey!
Here we are in Hazel Grove! I think I'll be using this blog as a diary, and hope it might be good reading for anyone interested out there... if I don't update it often, I'll forget our whole trip!
Oliver did really well at the airport - we have this cool new gadget called Gogo Kidz, which attaches to your car seat and gives it wheels - since we needed the car seat in England, and I thought it would be helpful on the plane, this was a great option since I couldn't carry bags, Oliver, and the heavy car seat by myself! So when it's all put together, I could put Oliver in it and drag him behind me as if he was a suitcase! He didn't mind a bit, seemed to enjoy the view. We had lots of fun walking back and forth a million times on the people movers before we boarded the plane, and he enjoyed watching the planes outside through the big windows.
We took off around 10:15 pm, and by 10:45 he was asleep. I thought, hooray, maybe he'll sleep the whole way!!! It was nighttime, after all. But no, after 2 hours he woke up, fussing and uncomfortable, wondering "why am I not in my crib??!" So I tried putting him next to me in the empty seat, with his head on my lap, and he slept for maybe another hour that way. But that was IT!! 3 hours sleep. The rest of the time he was pretty fussy, obviously exhausted, but I managed to distract him with bits of food, drink, books, toys, and the people behind us were very helfpul as he spent a lot of time standing in his seat, looking over it at them, playing peekaboo (their idea). I did have trouble with him in the carseat because it was so big that it brought him close to the seat in front of him, and he thought it was great to put his feet up and push the seat away - I felt so bad for the woman in front of him! But at the end of the flight I apologized to them, and they were so nice, saying "oh no, not at all, he was wonderful!" I was pretty surprised about that!
It was so nice to see Carole and Maurice again, and they are sooooo charmed with little Oliver! I don't remember him laughing so much in such a short time, ever! They've got tons of toys here for him, and books, and all sorts, and Steve and Al (uncle and aunt!) have loaned a lot of things as well. C & M are amazingly patient as Oliver sets out to examine and then toss to the floor nearly every object he can get his hands on, and we're all spending all day, every day just playing together. On our first day here (after the 3 hours sleep - well, I personally got about a half hour!) we had a nice lunch, played for a good while, and then Oliver and I had a nap for two hours. He woke up and sat bolt upright and started bawling - I think he was just so confused and probably still so tired. I've never seen him so distraught! I finally calmed him down and he napped a while longer on my lap on the couch. After that he was all right, and he and I and Maurice took a nice walk to the field down the road with the sheep grazing, then to the little local playground for a swing. We came down and had dinner, some more playing, and then Oliver went to sleep at 10pm. He slept till after 7:30 am, not bad!!!
After breakfast (Oliver tried porridge and seemd to like it!) we all walked to the bus stop and took 2 buses (he actually snoozed on one of them) to get to a wonderful indoor fun place called Funizuz, where Oliver ran around and played for well over an hour. Alison met us there and joined the fun - Oliver jumped in and out of the big ball pit, walked through mazes, went down a few slides, and actually walked UP the long slide you see in the photo - something kids are not supposed to do, but I helped him up the first (steepest) part and thought he'd slide back down, and then I couldn't get to him in time to stop him! He was fine though, but he could have had a scary tumble!
Alison drove us all home, and then later she and Steven came by for playing and dinner. After dinner Maurice had to go to a choir rehearsal, and the rest of us set out for a big rally and parade to honor the winners of the football league, Stockport County - Maurice and Steven are big fans, and Al as well! There was just a big final game in London, and they won, and there was lots of happiness all around! So hundreds of people turned out for the parade, and the team came by on the top of an open double decker bus, and then they came out one by one in front of city hall, and everyone was cheering and waving flags and blowing air horns and Oliver thought it was quite something! He didn't love the air horns...! I took loads of pictures, so I'll put them up as soon as I can. When we got back, he fell asleep around 9:20 - I hope tonight goes as well as last night!
Oliver did really well at the airport - we have this cool new gadget called Gogo Kidz, which attaches to your car seat and gives it wheels - since we needed the car seat in England, and I thought it would be helpful on the plane, this was a great option since I couldn't carry bags, Oliver, and the heavy car seat by myself! So when it's all put together, I could put Oliver in it and drag him behind me as if he was a suitcase! He didn't mind a bit, seemed to enjoy the view. We had lots of fun walking back and forth a million times on the people movers before we boarded the plane, and he enjoyed watching the planes outside through the big windows.
We took off around 10:15 pm, and by 10:45 he was asleep. I thought, hooray, maybe he'll sleep the whole way!!! It was nighttime, after all. But no, after 2 hours he woke up, fussing and uncomfortable, wondering "why am I not in my crib??!" So I tried putting him next to me in the empty seat, with his head on my lap, and he slept for maybe another hour that way. But that was IT!! 3 hours sleep. The rest of the time he was pretty fussy, obviously exhausted, but I managed to distract him with bits of food, drink, books, toys, and the people behind us were very helfpul as he spent a lot of time standing in his seat, looking over it at them, playing peekaboo (their idea). I did have trouble with him in the carseat because it was so big that it brought him close to the seat in front of him, and he thought it was great to put his feet up and push the seat away - I felt so bad for the woman in front of him! But at the end of the flight I apologized to them, and they were so nice, saying "oh no, not at all, he was wonderful!" I was pretty surprised about that!
It was so nice to see Carole and Maurice again, and they are sooooo charmed with little Oliver! I don't remember him laughing so much in such a short time, ever! They've got tons of toys here for him, and books, and all sorts, and Steve and Al (uncle and aunt!) have loaned a lot of things as well. C & M are amazingly patient as Oliver sets out to examine and then toss to the floor nearly every object he can get his hands on, and we're all spending all day, every day just playing together. On our first day here (after the 3 hours sleep - well, I personally got about a half hour!) we had a nice lunch, played for a good while, and then Oliver and I had a nap for two hours. He woke up and sat bolt upright and started bawling - I think he was just so confused and probably still so tired. I've never seen him so distraught! I finally calmed him down and he napped a while longer on my lap on the couch. After that he was all right, and he and I and Maurice took a nice walk to the field down the road with the sheep grazing, then to the little local playground for a swing. We came down and had dinner, some more playing, and then Oliver went to sleep at 10pm. He slept till after 7:30 am, not bad!!!
After breakfast (Oliver tried porridge and seemd to like it!) we all walked to the bus stop and took 2 buses (he actually snoozed on one of them) to get to a wonderful indoor fun place called Funizuz, where Oliver ran around and played for well over an hour. Alison met us there and joined the fun - Oliver jumped in and out of the big ball pit, walked through mazes, went down a few slides, and actually walked UP the long slide you see in the photo - something kids are not supposed to do, but I helped him up the first (steepest) part and thought he'd slide back down, and then I couldn't get to him in time to stop him! He was fine though, but he could have had a scary tumble!
Alison drove us all home, and then later she and Steven came by for playing and dinner. After dinner Maurice had to go to a choir rehearsal, and the rest of us set out for a big rally and parade to honor the winners of the football league, Stockport County - Maurice and Steven are big fans, and Al as well! There was just a big final game in London, and they won, and there was lots of happiness all around! So hundreds of people turned out for the parade, and the team came by on the top of an open double decker bus, and then they came out one by one in front of city hall, and everyone was cheering and waving flags and blowing air horns and Oliver thought it was quite something! He didn't love the air horns...! I took loads of pictures, so I'll put them up as soon as I can. When we got back, he fell asleep around 9:20 - I hope tonight goes as well as last night!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Crossing the pond
Hello! Sorry for the long silence - we've been getting ready for our big trip to England - we leave tomorrow!! Andy will be at work near London from Monday through Thursday, and I'm going straight to his parents' house in Stockport, with Oliver, of course! Then we'll be all together for the next two weeks, including a week at a "cottage" in Wales - here's a link to the cottage, how good's that?! It's Oliver's first time on a plane, so there's lots of excitment ahead. We hope it's excitment, and not misery... ! I think he'll be fine, actually - the flight over is at 10pm, so I'm hoping he'll sleep most of the way. And he's had LOTS of long car trips to Maine, so he's used to sitting in his car seat. So, we'll see. I've got some new toys to keep him occupied, and even some lollipops, which may help with his ears on the plane. We should have some good new photos for you soon, and lots of news. Here's a photo of Andy and me right after he proposed to me on top of Chinley Head, in July 2005, just to get you in the mood!! xoxo
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Mother's Day '08
Hello, again! So between all the sandbox photos and the Mother's Day photos I just downloaded, I couldn't pick just one or two to put on here, so I decided to make a snapfish show and put them ALL up!!! Hopefully this link will take you there: Oliver - Sandbox, Slides, and Shumai! The first bunch of photos show Andy digging out and creating the new sandpit (notice Oliver swinging in the background, so cute!), and then there's a bunch of him enjoying his new "pit of pleasure!" All the rest of them are from Mother's Day this weekend (except the last few, which I took today). 
We had a lot of fun on Mother's Day -- Andy cheerfully agreed to go to Chinatown in NY for dim sum, even though it meant an hour on the road each way, crazy tolls, stupid parking prices, ridiculous crowds, and food that I love but he only sort of likes. The drive was fine, but we had to give up on our first choice of restaurant because there were ZILLIONS of people swarmed outside it, waiting... so we went to Ping's Seafood, also good and only a short wait. Oliver was pretty much due for his nap at this point, so he had a meltdown right away, and we almost gave it up altogether, but Andy saved the day by taking him for a little walk then coming back and using his belt to strap him into the chair (no highchairs at the restaurant). After that we were ok for a bit, and Oliver got to enjoy his favorite shumai. We went to a nearby park after that, and then decided to head back. Oliver fell asleep in the car pretty much instantly. We drove straight to Sparta and had yummy ice cream and a good time in the playground right next to Lake Mohawk.
So it was a really nice day, and I was reminded - as I am in so many ways every day - of how lucky I am to be married to Andy and be the mom of Oliver. They are The Best.
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