Flashback Monday

In 7 years of marriage, with changing jobs and school aspirations, we have lived in 3 houses, 1 condo, and now 1 flat. This was our 3rd house- my least favorite, to be honest. :) It was in Frisco, north of Dallas, TX by about 20 or 30 minutes. Looking back, tho, it looks really cute! I do miss having my own home, even if we killed most of the yards we had.

Just for fun- not in that house even- just in the same file on my computer. This was 2 years ago for our family Christmas picture.

Sadly, even tho, we have some great family pics for this year, you will have to wait! They are a surprise for the parents- they know they're getting pics, just not what they look like!

Why I love being Luke's mama

I told you it was coming!

I love having a BOY! And you are all boy! You love being thrown, spun, and rough-handled, yet, son, you are a precious, huggable, squeezy little guy and you have been since we had to physically force you out of my tummy! You love being held and almost anything can be solved these days just by picking you up- almost! You have the greatest smile and dimples that fill and light up your whole face- you smiled your first days of life and we knew that you would fill us with joy. You have given us many challenges, but they have made us love you and appreciate having you all the more. I love the way you sleep- all curled up on your left side, with your head thrown back. I also love that you can grin, laugh, sneeze, cough, fuss, and full-out scream- all with your paci in your mouth. I love how you adore your sister and she is pretty fond of you, too! You are pretty mellow most of the time, but you sure can let us know when you're not- and in 3 seconds! On a practical note, you are a stud in the car and so great at just hanging out! You love being at home, tho, and I imagine that you are a calm, soothing personality like your dad. You and your dad balance Bekah and me out! You are just starting to show us some more of your personality- like you cough and pretend cry to get attention and you are starting to show preferences. You LOVE the sound of our voices, like when we're laughing or reading or singing. You have a special place in your heart for your daddy, which I love! You laugh all the time- when tickled, when your sister talks to and play with you, when Daddy spends time with you, when you're being thrown around...and it's a great laugh that warms my heart! You are your own little man and I am excited to see who you become. I pray for your trust in Jesus to develop over time and for you to be a Godly man. It's hard to believe you're going to grow up- especially as you are taking a stance on delaying sitting as long as humanly possible- but I know you will. I eagerly anticipate sharing you with the world, yet I am fearful, too. I am excited to take you places and be with you as you feed the animals at the zoo for the first time, like Curious George (and Curious Rebekah for that matter) or splash in your first puddle. I am excited to know you more and the awesome privilege of being your mom.

I love you, Luke Timothy.

Ode to Scotland

Here are some different and fun things in our daily lives...

We do have a dryer, but it doesn't always work, and definitely not efficiently. So, I have had to resort to hanging the laundry all over the flat! There's something quaint about crunchy clothes and towels!

Okay- this kettle has got to be the coolest thing ever! Tea drinking- or having a cuppa- is part of every day. I attribute that to the fact that no one runs their heater unless they have to (to save $), so a warm beverage is essential for survival. I was skeptical, but I have become very fond of hot tea! I even drink the plain ol' generic kind (they call the basic kind builder's brew here :)) and am very much loving it! So, anyway, this kettle takes ice cold water from the tap and heats it to a boil in like 2 minutes!!!!! My friend, Kate, shared her idea to heat water for pasta, cooking, etc., in the kettle first and then transfer it to the oven- genius! I especially love using it for making broth- they don't can chicken or beef broth here, so you use OXO, their version of bouillon cubes. (Side note- Rebekah LOVES unwrapping the cubes for me- she is very meticulous in her work and appreciates having a job, I think!) I also showed you my canisters I love in the background- just a reminder- biscuits are cookies- they have digestive biscuits here which are their version of graham crackers. I thought I loved graham crackers, but milk-chocolate-covered digestive biscuits bring it to a whole new level of indulgence!

You may remember I had some nursing issues, so we started using formula. When we moved here, we needed to change brands to be able to find it locally. I thought you might like to see the packaging. It's called Baby Milk here (not formula) and is about 8 pounds for a larger can than in the States. Even with the exchange rate not in our favor, the formula is about the same cost. I am thinking that is because not that many moms here use it.

We also were using corn syrup for Luke's constipation. Most of his bowel issues have cleared up- praise the Lord- but we use golden syrup here when necessary and one teaspoonful will clear him out in a couple hours. You should have seen me asking for corn syrup in Scottish grocery stores...

If a baby is gassy, he is "windy." (Thanks, to Joy Short, for exposing me to this when you had us for a yummy dinner!)

If a baby is fussy, he is "unsettled." Only once have I had to go back to the creche (nursery) for Luke at church. The lady who held up his number told me he was "unsettled." Expecting a small upset, I was shocked to hear him screaming bloody murder all the way down the hall. Somehow their euphemisms here don't quite get the point across all the time! :)

Some fun things we keep in the pantry. 1 L bottles of pop- on the left is fizzy orange- Josh and Rebekah love it. "Lemonade" is Sprite. The Lightly Salted Tortilla Chips are like 30 cents because the bag is tiny! The popcorn box was a new find I was excited about! On the bottom is "streaky bacon"- "bacon" is what we would call ham. The little container is "soured cream" and the small tin is yeast. I just thought you might enjoy seeing some of the packaging. I can not explain how relieving it is to kind of know what things are, what we can get, what we'll need to get back in the States, etc. It was hard starting off, knowing nothing!

Having a Honda Accord means we have a "big" car here! This amuses me greatly! Many cars are like this one. It has been interesting learning to drive here. It's not that bad, but I still hate roundabouts- if you get off on the 1st or 2nd exit, you stay in the outside lane. If you get off at the 3rd or more exit, you stay in the inside lane. However, you can exit from the inside lane b/c cars in the outter lane should only be there if they're exiting, too. All of this is communicated with blinkers and seems easy enough until you're not sure which exit you'll be taking. That's when you do a few loops in the inside lane. :) Drivers give you about a half second to respond to a signal change and then you get honked at. However, they are extremely coreous about letting in cars and slowing down so other cars can make turns even when it's not their right of way.

Josh did hunt down a very good Chinese "take-away" place the other day that was decently affordable. It was really fun to eat "out" again! We actually do have a date set up for next week- we are hoping to eat and then walk around, exploring. Josh and I have learned that it is just a slower pace around here, which is nice most of the time! The stores close down at 5pm!! So, Thursdays are late-night shopping because they're open til 8! Crazy! So, interestingly, Josh told me that Scots have a great knowledge of movie culture- it gets so dark here so early (5pm right now) and nothing's open, so lots of movie-watchin'!

Every time people find out we're American, they want to talk about the election. The world really is watching. Josh has had some interesting conversations. One guy in education here saw America as wholly conservative and was almost offended that Americans talked about socialism as a "bad thing." It is interesting living somewhere else and seeing how they view us. While on the topic of socialized things, we have been intrigued by some of the things we've encountered at the medical centers. There is a poster campaign about no tolerance for physical or verbal abuse to nursing staff and a picture of a guy hitting a poor nurse. We asked about it and in the ER, I guess, it's pretty common for the locals to abuse the staff. What?!

For some great Scottish sayings go to my sweet friend, Rachel's, blog by clicking on her name.

Halloween Part 3

I'll admit it, I am a total slacker when it comes to Halloween or most holidays. Until the DAY of the event, I convince myself that we don't need costumes or special attire to make the holiday special. Then, that day comes and I am mad at myself.

I think this goes back to my childhood and even my teaching career. As a child, I went to school with a bunch of prissy girls. Don't get me wrong, I am too, but not to that level. They had outfits for every holiday, with matching bows to boot! Out of crazy envy, I determined I would NOT fall prey to that and so I didn't. I am confident, looking back, that had my mom known how important it was to me to fit in and to have such holiday-appropriate clothing, she would have bent over backwards to obtain it for me. I don't know why I never said anything, I just didn't. So, Valentine's Day would come and I wouldn't have a special tee-shirt, so I would cut out and safety pin on various hearts to my clothing. Not only did I look foolish, I was even less cool than I had been before.

Fastforward to teaching high schoolers- I vowed to them and to myself that I would never match my clothing to the holiday and I didn't. So, when I had kids, I kind of just ignored the commercialized holiday garb. I think I bought one onesie for Rebekah that said Ho Ho Ho on it. Other than that, I don't buy things that can't get worn past a certain date. It all sounds good until the holiday actually arrives. For 3 years now, I have kicked myself for not putting in more effort. Actually, last year I did manage to get a pumpkin suit for R, but totally forgot about a shirt, hair thing, tights, and shoes. It all panned out, tho, and she looked presh!! So, the day after Halloween, I busted my tail to get to Target so I would not let my kids down the next year. I knew I was preggers but still didn't know little buddy was a boy, so I got a gender-neutral costume for the baby and something cute for Rebekah. But, then, we moved halfway around the world and suitcase space was way too precious to use up for costumes. So, I looked around haphazardly and instead of spending 7 pounds for a full fairy princess dress, I spent 1 pound on a Princess Fairy "skirt", headband, and wand for Rebekah. Not a penny on little man- Mamama got him jammies that have sheriff written on them, so R and I made him a badge that said "Sheriff Luke." While fairly lame, it was the best pound I will probably ever spend. Rebekah was THRILLED with her skirt, headband, and wand, and has worn them with every outfit, including jammies, every day since. Luke is lovingly oblivious to it all. (can I just say, I am sooooo excited to get her Xmas presents this year!!!!!!! I have sooo many ideas!)

Please note Rebekah holding the play phone in every picture.

She LOVES that car!! Creche (word for free nursery for little ones here) is a big hit due to that phone and car.

Our pal, Lily (her mom is Kate who I pictured a few weeks ago. Kate is due with #2 in March)

Our other pal, Ethan, and his pregnant mommy, Miss Rachel

The church play group. It wasn't the same as lining them all up in Iowa and cracking up as they all cried. Very few cried here...such a shame...:)

Rebekah told me she put Mickie down for a nap, that she was tired and needed a wittle rest. :) Thsi was right after I heard her telling Mickie to be good girl, that she would see her when she woke up, and to make sure she kept her pull-up dry so she could get a popsicle.

Halloween and random happenings

I failed to mention that we changed our clocks back a whole week earlier than the good ol' US. So, it has been getting dark around 5pm. To add to the impending winter, it snowed last week! Nothing to write you Iowans about or anything, but little Miss Rebekah LOVED looking out the window at the snow! Look at that sassy bottom.

Speaking of lovable bottoms, we stripped Luke down to give you a glimpse of Malone chub. LOVE those legs and cheeks!

Luke was a sheriff and Rebekah was a fairy princess. I think I have a few pics on my camera. Anyway, I loved this pic! I think it's a glimpse into what adolescent Rebekah will look like. My, my she will be a heart-stopper...maybe that's just the proud mama talkin'.... :)