Still Snowing & Still Moving

We are in the throws of moving. Like seriously in the middle. The movers come tomorrow. Our house looks like it has been turned upside down and shaken a little. Everything is in piles for the movers to pack. And all the stuff we are keeping with us is shoved in suitcases in one corner.

Regardless of the chaos of the move, there is still time to play in the snow! It is still dumping. It really does make it hard for me to leave the house and go anywhere, but it looks pretty and is really great for making snow angels!




Regardless of the snow, the movers will be here tomorrow. Ian promised to shovel a path to our front door for them. I am glad they are coming. Now lets see if the weather lets up by next week so the airport can reopen and we can actually fly out!

Let it Snow

The last few days its been snowing. Like really snowing. I was excited to introduce Connor to the snow. Little did I know, he would turn out to NOT be a fan of snow. He won't touch it, stand in it or play in it. The only way I could get him to walk in it is if I set him down then walked away...and he came running after me crying. I have tried two different days and he didn't like it either time. Oh well.




On a positive note, Connor seems to like watching it snow out the window. And if I may say so myself, he looks pretty darn cute doing so!




And after being cooped up in the house for 2 days, I decided to take Connor out for a walk today. My adventure was nothing short of a disaster. The sidewalks were slippery and covered in snow. I got a workout pushing Connor's stroller on the back two wheels. My wellies got a hole in them last week, so I had to venture out in my UGGs, which kept the water off my feet for all of 5 minutes. Seriously, within minutes, my feet were swimming in cold water. On a plus note, I ended up buying myself some new snazzy wellies...to keep my feet dry in the California sun!

The moral of the story? Snow is pretty, when you are looking at it through a window!

Neighborly Animosity

I remember the days, back when I thought neighbors were nice people. The people who loaned you an egg, kept a spare key to your house and watched out for you.

Not anymore.

In fact, I don't know if it has ever been this way in my adult life. I have never had good relationships with my neighbors...maybe its me?!? There was the incident last year with the lady above us yelling at me when I was 9 months pregnant. But she has since become quite chummy with us...it helped that we shoveled a path thru the snow to her front door all the time last winter...and that we have an adorable little child that she likes to play with.

Today a delivery man came to my door and asked to drop of a package for my next door neighbor. The neighbor who I had the privilege of meeting last week. Anyway, because of what went down last week, I flat out refused to accept her package. I am pretty sure the delivery man thought I was crazy, but I just don't want to see that woman again.

Let me tell you what happened. It was all over a drain pipe that came loose on the front of our building.


We noticed it when we got home late last Tuesday night. Our neighbor above us (an owner) was out of town. But the girl who lives in the top flat (also an owner) was home, so we texted her.

By the next morning, I had forgot all about the pipe. Connor and I were enjoying our morning when I hear a banging on the front door...like serious banging. Before I could get to the door, the person had moved to the living room window and was now banging on the window. I open the door that there was a very angry woman at the door. She pushed me out of the way and said, "Let me in before that pipe falls on me and kills me!" At this point, I should let you know that even though the pipe was high in the air, it is just plastic, not metal or anything. She then proceeded to let me know she is a lawyer and is going to sue me if the pipe fell on her property. I kept trying to tell her that an owner was taking care of the issue and I wasn't an owner, but she wasn't listening. She was being rude, yelling at me and threatening me. Anyway, to make a long story a little less long, both her and I called my landlord. She threatened them, I did not threaten them. Within 30 minutes, someone was out to take down the pipe. While it was being removed, she was standing outside saying rude things. ARGH!

And that is the story of why I REFUSE to accept any package for my neighbor. Seriously. She is not very neighborly at all...so neither am I! Way to turn the other cheek, I know.

Weekend Update

We saw Harry Potter on Friday.
The people who babysat Connor while we went to the movies, then fed us dinner.

We went to Edinburgh on Saturday.
Seeing our friends is always great.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with them.
Ian & Richi did most of the cooking.
Our friends loved my green bean casserole...Ian did not.

Sunday was a bit stressful.
We had family pictures taken outside.
It rained.
It poured.
I saw a sneak peek of the pictures and they look great.
Enjoyed a nice linner (lunch-dinner) with our friends.
They paid...thanks again you two!
We drove back to Aberdeen.
I cried about leaving Edinburgh for the last time.
Connor cried because he wanted out of the car.

Christmas is Coming!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Everywhere you go

It started with Starbucks launching Christmas at their stores. The iconic red cups. The eggnog lattes that warm my belly on an almost daily basis.


But then today it happened.

We
got
a
Christmas
card
in
the
mail

So freaking excited. And props to the person who is so on top of things they already sent out their Christmas cards. Mine should be sent out by December 24th!

So excited that the countdown to Christmas has begun!

1 Year

Weight: 20lbs, 14oz

Height: 30 inches

Accomplishments:
Exclusively walks everywhere
Started running...dangerous!
Can climb on to the couch & our bed
8 teeth

A friend asked me last night if I missed the little baby Connor that I brought home from the hospital. I don't. Having Connor grow up and interact with me all the time is great. I still smile watching him walk around. I love having him crawl on top of me. And hearing him laugh is just about the best thing ever. I know every stage brings joy for different reasons, but I much prefer being able to play and interact with him. And that smile...so great!

Connor got his 12 month immunization yesterday. Being the man that he is, he cried/sniffled for all of 5 seconds and was back to normal. Go little man!

Connor is doing better and better and playing with other little kids. He isn't as gentle as he needs to be, but he will learn. Whenever he sees another little kid, he is very interested in them and what they are doing. Especially older kids, he seems to look at them with awe. It is sweet.

Connor talking with his friend Luca

Connor loves playing with toys. The ones that are interactive seem to be his favorite. Last night, he spent a good 15 minutes pushing a soccer ball around the room. It was so cute. We got him an igglepiggle (from BBC's In the Night Garden...a popular kids show in the UK) doll for his birthday that talks. He loves his blue doll (it really isn't a doll...more a stuffed animal...but for lack of words, I am calling it a doll). He carries it around, puts it in his walker, pulls it out and carries it some more. So cute.

The one thing I hate is Connor falling so much. Now that he is walking everywhere, and running as well, he has taken some nasty falls. And it is awful to hear him cry and try to comfort him. The worst part is, most of his injuries are on his face, and I know that can't feel good. Plus, I am always afraid people are going to think I am the reason for the injuries! Ekk!

Finger Painting...which didn't go down as well as I thought it would

A naked escapee

Helping mommy with the laundry

You are never too young for a blackberry!

The Small Print

Lately I have been really into reading terms & conditions, the small print and things of the sort. For some reason I find it fascinating. It is where companies hide all their dirty little secrets. In doing this, I was reminded of an article I came across earlier this year. One where a company in the UK put in their terms & conditions that you were selling them your immortal soul. They said they did it to prove a point…that no one ever reads terms & conditions, but talk about creepy!

Now I will be honest, even in this phase that I a going though, I can’t get through all the T & C’s that I come across. Some of them are just too stinking long! Which I will say I think is NOT FAIR to the customer. Right when we are purchasing something, you expect us to spend an hour or so reading your rules. Yeah right. Of course I will do that!

Anyway, I thought I would share some sneaky findings as of lately:

• I have to sell my stock I got from work. When I called the stock selling people (the name I am using to protect the guilty), I had several questions for them. One was, how much do you charge? $14.95. No other fees? Nope. Then I called my bank to get some details that I needed to get my money from the stock selling people. My bank tells me to be sure they aren’t doing a wire transfer as there are all sorts of hidden fees involved. So, I go onto stock selling people’s website and low and behold it is a wire transfer and it says charges and fees MAY apply. At this point, they are only saying MAY. I of course pick up the phone and call back stock selling people and find out there is no option to these “may” charges. They do in fact exist. You sneaky bastards. Trying to steal my hard earned stock money at every turn. And behind my back. SO NOT COOL.
• I got a new terms & conditions packet from my credit card company. Normally I don’t even bother with those, just throw them away. But, I am in this phase, so I decided to read. What did I find? If I am late making just one payment, not only will I be charged a late fee, but my interest rate will go up 150% for at least 6 months. WHAT?!? I didn’t know there was no such thing as making a mistake anymore. That’s why credit cards are bad news! Seriously.
• When I went on to itunes recently, I had to agree to a new set of T&C's to continue buying a song. Determined to read it, I was shocked by how long it was. I finally gave up.
  

It's not fair how companies hide behind wording like "fees may apply" or "pre-existing condition". These people that make so much money off of us are out to get us at every turn. AND, they make us agree to things we don't even know about. This whole terms & conditions thing needs to be simplified. They should be a couple paragraphs long, not pages long!

Freaking terms & conditions!

Happy Birthday Connor!

Today is Connor's birthday. We celebrated by having a little party with some of our friends. There was cake involved, which I thought Connor would be so excited about. Oddly enough, he didn't seem too thrilled. Sure he ate some, but given that he didn't smile once while doing it, you would think we were torturing him by making him eat it!

He didn't even crack a smile when everyone was singing happy birthday to him.

What a year it has been! In some ways it feels like the year has flown by, but at the same time, 1 year old Connor is definitely not the little baby I brought home from the hospital!

Connor the day he was born.

I have enjoyed every minute (well almost every minute) of this past year. From those first cuddles, to Connor learning to walk. It has been one great year!

All Over the Place

Does anyone else ever find when you have tons of thoughts flowing thru your head, it is hard to get just one full thought out there on the blog? No. Just me then. That's cool. I am used to being different.

Here goes nothing:

I get so tired of the same people always being late. It feels like they don't value my time at all. Ian and I actually cut some people out of our lives once for being time wasters. Harsh, I know. But it really was necessary for our own sanity.

Last night Connor vomited ALL OVER Ian. Like a serious vomit. Think two pints. It was everywhere and they were standing on the carpet. If I didn't think Ian would have killed me, I would have pulled out the camera.

This time last year, I looked like this.


And unbeknown to me, my water would be breaking in 5 hours...all over the bed. And because I am a genius, I went into a 24+ hour labor (measured from the time my water broke) on 1.5 hours sleep.

Connor has this new obsession with sticking his hands in our drink glasses. The other day, he wanted the lime out of my water, so I obliged.


The best part was, he actually went back for seconds.

That's all I got for now. If you are actually still reading, thanks for being loyal.

The Spider Situation

There are these nasty looking spiders in Scotland. They seem to be common, at least in my house. They are HUGE (so not huge, but disturbing enough for me), black and have fangs or something. Gross!


We found one in Connor's room last night (that guy in the above picture). It always disturbs me when we find one close to Connor. Twice I have found them within inches of him. Once in his playpen and once on the floor. So disturbing.

Anyway, according to people over here, spiders don't bite in Britain. Seems like a pretty bad myth to me. But people seriously always say that over here. It is almost funny. After doing a little research, I found that this is in fact FALSE. Big surprise, I know. From this research I did find out that there is only one spider over here that can actually have bad affects on humans if you are bitten by it. I didn't look at any spider pictures to find out if the one harmful spider in Britain is the one I constantly find in my house.

Honestly, I didn't really want to know. I just wanted to prove that spiders really do bite over here.

My hero killing the spider

The spider doesn't look so scary on the bottom of a shoe!

Guy Fawkes

On Friday was Guy Fawkes Day. The day has something to do with a failed attempt by a group of English Catholics (among them Guy Fawkes) to assassinate King James I of England and blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605.

I always associate it the the 4th of July, even though I know it has NOTHING to do with that. However, it seems to be celebrated so much like the 4th of July, that they are the same in my head...sorry Brits!

Anyway, there was a huge fireworks show going down on Friday night. We decided to bundle up and go watch it, stopping at Starbucks along the way. Due to the Starbucks pit stop, we were a little late for the show, which I actually think was a good thing. We watched the fireworks from about a half a mile away and didn't have to deal with the crowds.

Though this wasn't Connor's first time being at a fireworks show, it was the first time he paid attention. At past shows, I remember babies crying from the noise, so I was prepared for a meltdown. But, Connor just stared with his mouth open. It was so cute.




I was glad we got to share this independence day Guy Fawkes day with Connor...even if people did fireworks outside our house for the rest of the freaking night.

Global Warming

I know there are arguments both ways as to if global warming actually exists. But I am today going to dispel a myth for you.

So the ice caps are melting, right? And the proof for this is in the rising sea? Well, I have another reason for that rising sea.

Shipping containers.

Yes, you read that correctly. Shipping containers. Approximately 10,000 shipping containers are lost at sea every year. That would certainly do something to the ocean and cause the waters to rise, right?

Okay, so this post really isn't about global warming. It was just a ruse to get you to read my oh-so-interesting rant about international moves. They are a pain in the butt. Seriously. You have to have all sorts of companies come out to your house, look at your stuff, then tell you how much it will cost to ship it. And that cost? It is about what I could get for one of my kidneys on the black market! I don't understand the cost! Especially since it takes 3 months to get it from point A to point B. The only silver lining is that due to customs regulations, the shipping company has to pack up all your stuff. Bummer!

Anyway, so in order to scare you into get you to buy insurance, they show you all these pictures of boat disasters, then let you know that even though 10,000 containers a year sounds like a lot, it really isn't in the scheme of things. Thanks.

Now I am left fretting over all the oh-so-important possessions I have, trying to figure out how I am going to get them all on the plane with me. Has anyone looked at the cost of extra baggage lately? It's out of control! Since I don't have a second kidney to sell, I will have to be careful what I decide to take with me. Oh the decisions!

Wordless Wednesday

Here are some more pictures from halloween. Connor was thinking how fun it would be to grab the candle inside the pumpkin, but his mom, being the buzz-kill that I am, stopped him.

This Mother's Dilemma

After Connor had yet another meltdown in the church nursery on Sunday and had to be brought to me screaming his head off during the service, I had yet another conversation with a nursery worker over what "went wrong".

I again heard some story of how Connor felt lost during "free play" and wondered around the nursery crying, so they brought him to me.

Taking Connor to the nursery at church is becoming a bit like torture for the both of us. I understand it takes some getting used to, especially since he had to be 9 months old before he could go...thus old enough that he was totally and completely used to hanging out with me during church. But, he now recognizes the nursery. When we are walking down the steps to get there, his bottom lip pops out and he starts crying. No, make that screaming. Real tears and everything. So, then I have this inner struggle wondering if it is bad to force something upon my child that he obviously hates so much.

And personally, I get why he feels overwhelmed. There are only like 20+ kids in the nursery with far too few workers. And Connor is only used to one on one time with me or playing with my friend's kids...where there are never more than 3 present at a time. I would feel overwhelmed too. Especially if I was the runt of the group.

But I find myself struggling. Do I continue to take Connor to something that he hates? It feels like torture to me. I sit in service feeling sick to my stomach, waiting for them to bring my crying baby to me. Yet, do I give in and make my child unable (or perhaps, unwilling) to adapt to different situations?

I know deep down that he needs to get used to nursery settings. It just breaks my heart to see him cry like that. It just makes me want to keep him with me for a little longer before I push nursery on him again.

I just hate seeing him cry like that.