Saturday, May 9, 2015

1 month old!

It's hard to believe this last week our baby boy was a month old!  We have loved this first month with him and are soaking in these newborn cuddles.
Last night as Michael and I were eating a late dinner, Silas put on quite the show of smiles for us.  It was the most smiles we have gotten yet.  I still need to get a good pic of him smiling, but haven't had my phone close enough to snap a pic yet.
He is still a great sleeper at night, only waking sometime around 3 or 4 a.m. for a feed.  Sometimes he has a hard time being laid back down after that, but I can't complain after he gives me a good 5-6 hour stretch to start the night.

We have occasionally gotten some nice days here lately (mixed in with some rainy, cooler days of course).  It has given us the itch to do some outdoor gardening, which is so fun for us.  We haven't owned a house in 5 years, which means we haven't really done any gardening other than a potted plant maybe or being a part of the Covenant Community Garden while at seminary.  While we still don't own a house, we are still enjoying being in a house (as opposed to an apt. with no yard really) and having a yard we can get our hands dirty in.  It is fun also to learn about what plants do well here and finding varieties of plants that you can't really find in the states.

What else have we been up to....

Sk is still loving school and doing well.  She is having to do a little bit of work at home to get caught up with her classmates in areas like handwriting (there are quite a few letters they do different here) and math.  She is doing great overall though and I am so proud of how well she is doing.

Evie is starting to get better about pitching fits and such (being a 2 year old...).  She is a silly little girl and we love her to death.  She def. can put a smile on your face with her goofy looks she will make at you and her sweet giggle.

I have been reflecting more this week on things that I have started missing from the states and also things that I love about being here.  So how about a list...y'all know I love me a good list :)

Things I miss:

*Being able to drive---We have a manual car here (which is very common here and finding a 7 seater automatic is very very difficult).  I don't know how to drive a stick :(  So Michael has taken me out 1 time so far and we are planning to do more teaching times soon.  And then there's the whole driving on the other side of the road thing too that I have to figure out.

*Hot sunny weather.  We get occasional days here where it is warmer, but not hot really.  I don't think I will be wearing shorts too much here.  I want a good hot day at the beach (white sandy beaches specifically).

*Chick-fil-A.  I would love to have a spicy chicken sandwich, with extra pickles, fries, a milkshake and a lemonade.  Oh, and CFA sauce.  mmmm....

*Trader Joes- y'all know I love me some Trader Joe's.

*Target.

*Rootbeer.


Now how about some things I love:

*I love riding in the car to go places and driving through such quaint villages with amazing gardens and lovely English houses.  I love the farms covered in Rapeseed everywhere right now.  It really looks like someone took  highlighter and drew all of the field.  It is stunning.

*I love that we can walk to so much.  I love walking to the cafe for breakfast them walking over to the butcher to get meat to make burgers tonight.  I love the quaint little shops in our village.  I love that we walk SK to school.  I love the abundant supply of footpaths here.

*I love looking out of my back window and seeing our laundry hanging out on the line to dry.  It has been an adjustment to not having a dryer, but I truly love it now.

*Fish and Chips.

*The endless supply of cool places to go on date nights.  Michael and I have date night every Thursday night.  That might sound extravagant to some, but it truly has been essential for this adjustment to life here in England.  It has been so needed for us and been such a huge blessing to us that we have had Emma Rose here to be willing to help us make date night happen each week.  And it has been fun to go and find some cool places to hang out for date nights.

*Food here.  I really do love so many of the foods here.  The cheeses I can get here are amazing and so yummy.  There are loads of good yummy foods here.

I will stop there for now, but hope to keep sharing on here more about life here and things I love and things that I miss too.  It's fun for me at least to write it down.