Feeling Homesick

Craig's niece Jenna had a baby this morning. A little boy called Samuel. I couldn't wait to get home tonight so I could go out and buy him something and get it posted tomorrow. Good grief I'm homesick. I've been thinking about home a lot lately and what it means to miss it, especially since I haven't been to England since September 2008.

Do I miss England the country. The green and pleasant land? Or do I miss the people, my family & friends in particular? A bit of both I think but definitely family more. My mum has been to Portsmouth this past week which has been on my wish-list for a few years. I want to see HMS Victory and The Mary Rose and Charles Dickens's house. Last month she went to Whitby - a quaint fishing village and home of Bram Stoker. And she's been to Warwick Castle and Ironbridge and Howarth this year. All places I either want to see or that I love to visit. So I do miss England as a country and especially during those patriotic times like the royal wedding or a big national sporting event. In 2012 it's the Queen's 50th anniversary of being on the throne and also the London Olympics, so that will be a poignant time for me.

More than anything in the world though I miss my family. My niece Gemma is expecting her second child, a daughter, next February so there will be at least 6 great nieces & nephews new to mine & Craig's family in the last few years. I have aunties and uncles that I haven't seen for ages and of course we miss our parents and siblings badly. My mum & sister haven't even met Daniel yet! I think that's what bothers me the most - that Jack and Danny don't get to spend time with their grandparents and aunties, uncles, cousins and extended family. Between me and Craig we've got a large and close-knit family, so it's hard not to be a daily part of it.

Each day recently I've wished that our family could see Jack & Danny, just as they are right now. They are so gorgeous and funny and sweet that they need to be seen. And they need their family. Our Jack is sch a social little boy and he would be over the moon to have all those people as relatives! I can just imagine him planning his sleep-overs at his auntie or nan's house.

We do our best to Skype, write and phone but it's not the same.We spend half of the time on Skype shouting "can you hear me? Oh! I've lost you. Can you see me?" And the phone is impossible when I have Jack and Danny in the room because they will do anything to get me off the phone, including playing jump rope with the cord (I have a lovely old wall telephone with big long curly cord) and launching themselves off the furniture.

So anyway, I'm just homesick and I'm determined to go back to England Christmas 2012. Not that I don't love living in America because I do. And I'm very grateful for the life we have here and for our friends. But I just need to see my family. I am loooong overdue!

Jack's Parade

Jack came into the kitchen at 7am this morning and starting singing "Do you ever feel, like a plastic bag..." He then spent the time before school watching Katy Perry on You Tube. It was so funny.

The parade was great! All the local schools came together to support the local high school. Our Jack's school had made lovely t-shirts that said "We are Family" on the back. Here he is with his teacher, Mrs C.

Daniel spent the time taking his shoes off, throwing leaves, jumping off things and at one point banged his head on a concrete wall. I'm looking forward to the first event we go to where I don't have to have 1 eye on my youngest the whole time while he tries to take over the world. I only got a 12-second video of Mrs C and the group as they went past, even though I had planned for this all week. Mummy brain strikes again.

It's the Best Right Now

Our Jack has developed three new habits this week. Firstly, he wants to know what we are doing for every minute of the whole day so that when I answer "having breakfast" I get "Then what?" until I've relayed the whole day's activities, right down to going to bed. The next thing he's started doing is asking me pretty informed and difficult questions. Good for him! Argh for me! On the way to soccer tonight I had to try my best describing what happens to objects when they re-enter the earth's atmosphere. I must confess I made half of it up. Last week he asked me how electricity gets into the house and I said something about wires and it running like water then mumbled something about how the slide makes his hair stands on end and made a hasty retreat to the kitchen. I think I got away with it. I think perhaps it is time to buy a nice big encyclopedia (for me, not for him). The last (and lovely) thing he's started doing is waiting until he's in bed then whispering "can I tell you about school?" and then he gives me a few snippets from his day.

I wish my family in England could see Daniel right now. He's unbelievable sweet and funny and such a unique little person. I can't get enough of him. It makes me sad that they are missing out on him, and him on them. This morning he looked out the window and he said "mummy it's froggy!" and yes it was foggy. And each time we come in the front door, he pokes the little Halloween gel-clings I have on the glass and he says "like jelly!" I could just eat him.

I did love my boys as babies but this time, right now, is my favourite time. It just seems to get better and better. When Jack asks me to sing to him and stroke his head before bed, when Danny kisses all of my left arm when he sits on the potty, when Jack runs to meet me when I get home from work, when Danny says "I'm a rockstar!" and dances his butt off, when Jack sings Katie Perry's Firework. It's all fabulous.

A Most Sober Update

Danny's pre-school didn't get much better this week. He cried again Thursday and the teacher has told me to just drop and go. I know she's right but ugh. They do say that he calms down and is ok after I've left but I think it takes a while. I know that I'm not the first mum to go through this but it's awful. I hide outside so I can peek in his room to see if he's stopped crying and on Thursday I saw him stood by the sink, sobbing so hard he could hardly catch his breath.

We had Jack's open house and his first report card came home on Thursday. His card pretty much said "progressing towards" and "satisfactory" and a couple of "meetings" but no "excellent". I was a bit disappointed about it at first till I realised he's only been there two weeks. And then another mum at the open house told me that her son got an almost identical report. On Jack's it also said that he chatters too much. Absolutely no surprise there! He's been shouting over to the neighbours and pestering local supermarket cashiers since he was 18-months old! The open house was great though. His teacher had them all sing a few songs for us and he showed us around. He was very proud and so was I, especially when his teacher told me he deserved to be student of the week.

After a quick hair cut for both of them (I do love our authentic barber shop!) we've had a busy day today. Jack scored his first goal ever in a soccer game and was so pleased with himself. For a while now he's been confident in practice but then a bit scared of getting stuck in at games but today he tried his best and did it. In direct contrast to us forgetting the snacks last week, the lady who brought them this week brought coffee for all the adults and home-made soccer cookies for the kids. Bloody show-off.

I went to the football game this afternoon which was terrible. I haven't seen the Buckeyes play that bad in the 12 years I've lived in this country. It's going to be a terrible season!

And now I think I'm going to bed early. No wine for me for a while peeps. Trying to give the old body a rest. And Craig will be off trying to get bambi tomorrow so I've have the kids on my own. He's able to hunt on private property now which is a relief. I hate it when he goes off into public woods with God knows who else hiding in there with guns! I've seen Deliverance!

Getting me a Cat Muff!

I had thought that Danny's pre-school might be getting better but it isn't really. Today he cried his little heart out when I left and kept saying "I want you mama! Don't leave!" It was heartbreaking. The teachers are obviously used to it and trying to get me to leave quickly but it all feels a little cold. One of them said to me "Shut the door on the way out" which was a bit uncalled for as I don't think we'd been in the class room for more than 3 minutes. I must remember to scowl at her next time we go.

When I picked him up I was told that he had an ok morning but didn't interact with the teachers or kids at all. At reading time he sat by himself and at snack time he was on his own. She said he likes to have a choice and then go be by himself. That just breaks my heart. It also makes me a little mad since the whole point of pre-k is to gradually introduce him to social situations and I don't like the idea of giving him a choice to go and be by himself. We're only two weeks into this though so I obviously have to give it more time.

Jack has play-dates with school friends tomorrow and their mums are coming. Yea! More people I don't know to entertain. Sigh. And the forecast says rain so that's 6 kids and 2 adults in the house with me for at least an hour. Please let the kids be nice. I've had my fill of non-disciplined kids this last couple of weeks. I have taken to boycotting the local parks now & again just to give my blood pressure a rest because the parents drive me nuts. I met a history professor (from England actually) that was complaining to me that his son slapped a girl and her mum discliplined him. He thought that the mum was out of line but he gave up looking for sympathy when he saw my face.

This would all be much more tolerable if I had a glass of wine in hand right now but I'm off the wine for now - trying to be healthy. Health"ier" I should say since I just ate a tube of Smarties after dinner (thanks English family!)

And the cat, Tutz, continues to poo in odd places. Basement windowsill today. That's 4 times in the last week. I'm going to cut her nails, groom her, clean out her litter tray and try to pay her more attention and if that doesn't work then I might just have to send her away and have her made into a nice muff for winter.

Impromptu is the Best

I love impromptu moments. They are always the most enjoyable and fun. This particular one was a 3.5 hour outside play-date and picnic by chance. If you had asked me if I wanted to play outside for close to four hours I'd have said no way (housework and far too much stuff to do) but it was great to just enjoy the time with friends and kids. I just enjoyed the moment, which I do not do 99% of the time, and it was lovely.

My Hubby the Confidence Builder

At soccer this morning Jack nearly scored three goals, which is a major turn-around from previous weeks. He does great in practice but then doesn't have the confidence to get stuck in and get the ball during games. He actually didn't like playing games because of this. This past week Craig took him to the park for a couple of hours to try and get him a bit more used to it and it really made a difference. At the end of the game today he said he was sorry that it was over. Nice job hubby!

This boy will have no problem getting stuck in during games. If he wants that ball he'll just dive right in and take it! I can't wait until I can get him signed up for games.

On the way home Jack said again that he can't wait until Monday so he can start being student of the week at school. When I asked if he'll get to lead the color parade on Friday he said with genuine passion "oh yeahhhhhhh". I think it's the best thing that's ever happened to him in his life.

Tough Week

What a week!

Tuesday was nuts. After taking Jack to school and Danny to school and then going home to walk Cody, I finally got in my car to go to work and halfway there got a call that Daniel had "had a bowel movement and you must come back and change him", so I did an illegal u-turn and swore like a sailor all the way back to pre-K. He was happy to see me so I can't be mad at him but I do wish he'd embrace the whole toilet training concept. When I finally got to work I managed another hour before they called back and informed me that Daniel would absolutely NOT do lunch. So back I went, after picking Linda up first. Then when I walked into my kitchen Tutz had crapped all over the window seat. You can imagine the language out of my mouth I'm sure. Linda must have thought I'd finally lost my marbles when I took a picture of the window seat and sent it to Craig with the message "I am DONE!" I seriously considered giving her away that day but thankfully that moment has passed. That was a bad day though.

Wednesday wasn't much better. First off I locked me & Danny out of the house when we took Jack to school, then I went to Lake Erie for work and forgot my purse so spent all day with no money. That sucked as I couldn't buy food & drink and I worried that a policeman might pull me over and go nuts on me for driving a state car with no ID. I got home at 6.15pm and had a The Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meeting at 6.30pm. The PTA meeting was a bit weird. Telling maybe. There are 206 students at Jack's school and only about 14 people were there at the meeting and 4 of them were brand new, like me. That does not give me confidence that the parents like the current PTA committee. Is the PTA committee clicky maybe? Closed to new ideas maybe? In the "any other business" thing at the end I mentioned a new Facebook page that's all about our local schools and the PTA President said she hated Facebook and also said (and I sort-of quote) "I don't care that people went to Bob Evans for dinner! Why do people say that? I don't care. Facebook is for stupid people". This was after at least two of us parents had said we used Facebook. So I'm thinking these PTA women are clicky, resisting change and totally not open to social networking, which is just ignorant. Social networking is not going away and if anything is going to become more helpful and more important as a way of interacting with people and getting your message out.

While I was enduring the PTA, Craig had to take the boys to soccer with no snacks when it was our turn to take snacks. I was trying not to stress about it but poor Craig did and was late for practice so he could buy some. He's a good sport. And Jack scored his first goal!

Thursday Daniel did great at pre-k and, according to his teacher Mrs N. "sat on the rug at story time, danced and used the potty" Yea! Maybe he won't get expelled after all.

Today our Jack (drum roll...) was made "Student of the week" at kindergarten so next week he gets to sit in the comfy chair at reading time, he gets to lead the color procession and be a leader all week. He's so excited and can't wait to sit in that chair. 'I can hardly stand it!" he told me tonight of the wait until Monday. I asked him why he was chosen and he said "I didn't hit anyone and I was quiet in the hallway and didn't sit on my knees and raised my hand when I wanted to talk. And I didn't go to the Principal's office". I'm so happy for him. He's loving school and his confidence is blooming.

And finally, me & Craig are ok but exhausted. It was Craig's first week in his new job and that's exciting but yesterday he got the spare tyre knicked of the back of his Jeep so he didn't sleep last night he's so fed-up about it. That's another $300 expense we could have done without. Bow hunting season starts this weekend though so I'm going to push him into the woods on Sunday to go and get some Craig time.

I'm ok too, really. I'm actually much happier and smiley than I sound on this blog post! I just had a mad busy week at work and my feet are still killing me. I've been saying I'll go to the Docs since Christmas last year and I need to do it. Yeah right. God I sound depressing don't I? Sorry. It's been a tough week. I hate to write blogs like this but this week has been hard.

Let me think of a happy highlight...

Jack will take part in a parade in a couple of weeks and he's learning a song at school. All night tonight I've heard him singing "Baby you're a firework!" by Katie Perry, which is hilarious to watch. I'm going to embed the video in this blog purely so he can practice (I promised him I'd have a video of it tomorrow morning)

After a good night's sleep and a weekend off work I'll be okay again. Back to my old cheery self.

Little bit of Opera

I was sat having a glass of wine with my summer helper Tom (from England) a few weeks ago and we talked about music and he said he loved opera and I said I didn't. Then he said that he just picks songs from films that he loves and gets that one and before you know it, you love Opera. No one has ever said that before - that you can just like a song. I always felt like I had to embrace the whole thing or be naught.

So, I have two opera songs from films that I love but this is definitely my favourite so my only post (the next one later maybe). I have loved this film for 20 years called "A Room with a View". Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands have the best kiss ever in a movie. Ever. If any of you can find a better kiss then tell me about it.

And the music building up to and during the kiss is...

A Laugh I Love

Daniel has a great laugh. Here's just a snippet ...

Please Excuse the Stink

We've had a great weekend. Busy as usual with cook-outs and gardening and trying to clean the house at the same time as amusing two children. Someone told me recently that some good advice they were given as a parent was "raise children, not grass" in reference to to making the most of the kids and not worrying about the lawn. That would be perfectly okay except that I'm not just a neat-freak but I actually LOVE gardening. I am at my happiest when I'm stuck into a gardening project or just pottering about with my secateurs.

I might have pushed things a bit far this time though. On Friday I took a days vacation and went to the local sewage plant to get biosolid compost and then we (err, Craig) spread it over the back lawn. It will do wonders for my lawn I know, but good grief it stinks like poo. Which is what it is actually so why am I surprised? On Saturday we had English friends over for a cook-out and we had to set it up outside of the garden proper and still, as you ate your sausage or took a sip of wine, as gust of wind would come though and waft a foul smell and we'd all go quiet. I apologised at least 10 times and they politely insisted they couldn't smell anything "No, really, can't smell a thing, honest". We English are extraordinarily polite. My American friends would have said "Damn woman, what have you guys been feeding the dog?"

So the smell is still here, two days on. Might last a good week and will surely shock the postman tomorrow. Can't open some windows and both kids and the dog are barred from the back yard for at least a week. But my lawn will look gorgeous next spring!