A few days in...

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.

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!

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

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.

Having fun at home

Hello again! I finally downloaded some photos from our big camera, so today I'll show you some things that Oliver's been up to over the last few months... little snapshots of our life here.

I joined a mom's group as soon as we moved here, and have been to several playgroups with Oliver - some are at members' homes, others at parks or indoor play places... and we've hosted a few, too! The first photo is of one of Oliver's new playmates, a lovely girl who doted on Oliver the whole time she was here.

The next photo is from a few months ago when I got Oliver the Fisher Price car garage. He has lots of fun with it, but the day I got it I found him climbing all over it like it was gym equipment! This photo shows him sitting on top of it, with his leg down the elevator chute. Classic!

And the last photo is from just a few days ago, showing one of Oliver's latest fun tricks - wearing mom's crocs! I find him walking around in them most mornings now, very pleased with himself. He likes to wear dad's shoes, sometimes, too, but the crocs are the big favorite.

Today we had a nice walk at Horseshoe Lake and lots of fun playing at the big playground there with Beth and little Georgie. Later on we had a great webcam with Grandma Carole and Grandpa Maurice, where I took the computer outside so they could see Oliver playing in his new sandpit (sandbox in "American!") - so cool! He's looking forward to his first big trip to England in a few weeks! More photos from the sandpit coming soon, promise.

Boys in the Garden

Well, our time in Maine has just about come to an end... we leave tomorrow morning for the long trip home. It's been such a nice week, and the weather's been amazing pretty much every day, and we've had fun with Grandma and Granddaddy and Greenie! However, we're really looking forward to being home again and especially to having our little family all together - it feels like a long time that we've been apart!! O misses his dad, and I miss him VERY much, too.

Today was sunny and cool until late afternoon, when it clouded over and got pretty cold, fast. We played outside early in the day, and Weston and his mom, Nicole, stopped by for a visit on their way back from a walk. Here's a picture of the boys "helping" Grandma in the garden!! I'm inspired now to do more work in our yard back home... let's hope I follow through!! Later on we went to the 'Keag for crab sandwiches and then to the Owl's Head Transportation Museum, where O got to look at all the cool old airplanes.

So, now we have our exciting trip to England to get ready for, and a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa H, Auntie Al and Uncle Steven... and then a trip back up to Maine later in the summer, when Andy can come, too! Lots to look forward to.

It's not ALL mud!

So, spring in Maine is (as anyone who lives here will tell you) actually a lot more than just mud! This week has been glorious, with crisp, sunny days and cold nights - it's been around 55 degrees during the day, which doesn't sound that warm but today we just wore thin shirts and the sun felt so warm... it was perfect! It was a lot warmer inland, but stayed cooler by the coast, as usual. Nice! Just the way spring should be, none of this 70+ degree stuff they're getting already in NJ. Save it for summer!

Today we had a trip to the port in the morning, got a couple of things at the general store and met a great dog who escorted us around the landing - he acted like he was OUR dog! Big, heavy, wet, brown lab, everyone in town knows him - he belongs to a fisherman about a mile away, and comes to the port every day to hang out and get free food and good company. We sat together in the sun and wished that time could stop for a bit, but we had to get O back home for his nap.

We played outdoors a lot in the afternoon, and Oliver got to enjoy his new crocs, which (as you can see) he's quite proud of! We also visited a playground in town, and he had his first visit to a sandbox -- MAN did he love that sandbox! I think he would have stayed in it for an hour if he could - I've never seen him so happy doing just one thing for so long. Here's an action shot - he had tons of fun dumping sand all over the place, and on himself. Andy and I talked this afternoon and decided we'll have to build him his own sandbox when we get home.