Yesterday

Yesterday was, without a doubt, the most encouraging day I have experienced since we’ve been back in the States. The Lord filled it with many good things, and I was amazed at how uplifted my spirit was by the end of the day.

As I lay down to sleep, as usual my thoughts were wandering here and there, and before I knew it I was taking a walk in my mind’s eye.

I loaded the kids up into the buggy, grabbed a few shopping bags, and headed out the door. As I pulled the big, black door closed behind me, I felt the cool wind on my face and wished, once again, that my coat would zip up.

I felt my feet pad down the Lade Braes, around the familiar curves, the weight of my two Scottish-born babies pushing against me. Out through the car park, across the road, and a quick turn to head down South Street.

On my way to the grocery store. I did it almost every day. Sometimes I timed it wrong and all the secondary school kids were out and clogging every sidewalk and aisle. This day all I noticed were the Christmas lights on the trees. I love Christmas lights.

I didn’t give a second thought to the old stone buildings standing shoulder to shoulder along the pavements, the uniqueness of that place. I was just living life, doing what I did all the time. Said a quick hello to the Big Issue lady who always tells me what beautiful babies I have. Up and down the aisles in the grocery store, I knew them by heart.

I could have walked all over that town. I know it like the back of my hand. I have four and a half years’ worth of memories to replay in my mind. But somehow, that little walk to Tesco, one I’ve done a million times, brought me to tears as I tried to fall asleep. I continued remembering, the sounds of a football match in the field on a Sunday afternoon, intentionally walking the long way home so I could feast my eyes on the big Sea. It lead to thoughts of friends who I truly may not see again in this life, whose eyes I may never look into again as we share our hearts with each other. That is the first time I can remember crying about this whole thing. Sure, I cried the night before we left, but that was at 2am and out of utter hopelessness that we would ever be packed and ready to go. This was the first time I opened my heart to the reality that St Andrews is no longer my home.

It seems like it shouldn’t be so easy to leave a place you are so invested in. A place that you have given your heart, a place that has given you your family. How is it possible that all it takes is the closing of a door? A day’s worth of traveling, and suddenly your home is somewhere else? A place where expectations are that you know what you’re doing, that you should slot right back into the space that you left. I guess I’m not the right shape anymore. Sure things are familiar and good, but if home is where the heart is, this isn’t quite home yet.

Part of me wishes that we had spent those years somewhere closer, somewhere that we could feasibly go back and visit when we wanted to. Somewhere that when we left, it didn’t feel so final.

Part of me wishes we had connected less, enjoyed less, been more ready to go.

But that part of me is the coward, the easy way out. I wouldn’t trade those years for anything. The good, the hard, the beautiful, the ugly. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I know who I am in St Andrews, with the friends that gave me the confidence to find that person. And it took years to get to that point. Just like it will take time to get there again. To learn a new way of life for our family back on this side of the pond.

Life is not always a means to an end. In the academic world it is easy to think that this time is just the wait for the next exam, graduation, the job. It’s just the in between. But I have realized that if I view each stage as just the wait for the next thing, I’m going to miss all kinds of life in the in between. I’ve realized this before, and it’s a hard thing to allow to mold your perspective. But, there it is.

I’m sure there will be plenty more tears shed. Transition is hard, especially when you’re leaving a place that has meant so much. But, each day is a gift. The Lord is always working and there is always something to be grateful for. This in between? It’s going to be good. I can feel it.

Silly Boys

Trying on Mama’s glasses

Sometimes if I need to put Asher to bed while I’m home alone with both boys, I set Aed up with a Bob the Builder episode so he doesn’t have a fit because he can’t come with us. One day I came down to find this..

Perhaps he feels he can really take in the drama from there as opposed to sitting on the couch?

And the other one.. That six-monther.. well.. he may be six months old, but he can still fit longways on the couch. So.

I don’t know why but this picture totally cracks me up..

This was Asher’s contribution a while back to helping carry the groceries home. Such a helpful wee soul! :)

Throw it in a pan!

A spring-form pan! I got on a baking kick a month or two ago and used my springform pan for some delectable treats that I thought I’d share.. because that is what I do.

Remember how much I love baking? Mmhmm.

We had a neighbor come for dinner and she is of the classy sort, so I wanted to make something extra special for dessert for her. I came up with a fudge truffle cheesecake with homemade whipped cream and strawberries.

An unassuming chocolate wedge, but it was so, so much better than it looks. I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed a cheesecake more than that one.

Then, it was Thanksgiving and fittingly, I was in charge of coming up with a dessert. I knew without hesitation I would be making a layered pumpkin cheesecake. I don’t like pumpkin pie, but I really like pumpkin cheesecake! I’ve been making variations of this since Ian and I got married. This time I made it with a shortbread cookie crust which, with a few tweaks, will suit it nicely next time around.

Again with the homemade whipped cream. I’ve been doing that since we moved here and I may never go back, it’s so good! That will be something I’ll have to figure out America-style after we’ve moved.

THEN, we had a few brunches with friends and I was in charge of making a quiche for one of them. While I enjoyed making the quichey-quiche (with my sous-chef, Ian), I did not enjoy eating it, though everyone else did (or at least said they did..). I think I’m not a quiche person. Though I'm quite happy to say it over and over again, as you have seen. (Quiche?)

Not what you’re supposed to do, but I spring-form-panned it. I thought it would look nice that way, and I think it did. So.

And here are two of our mini-brunchers.. Aren’t they so cute!!?

I also made some delicious chocolate chip scones (which is what Aed's mouth is full of) that will be given a call-back at some point. No photo of them. I bet you could make those in a spring-form pan, too, though! Scone cake? Maybe!

So here’s where we break the trend and go back to the 9x13 dish. Boring, but yummy!

These are raspberry almond bars I made for a church potluck. I was going to make a cookie version of this that I was introduced to by the famous Holly Tallon, but couldn’t bear the thought of all that opening and closing of the oven. Not to mention all the getting up and sitting back down. We’re tired 'round these parts. So I found a bar version! Perfect! And really good. I got only rave reviews for this recipe.

::slightly different topic::

Now, I know I have mentioned this before, a long time ago, but Ian and I LOVE Master Chef. It is just a fabulous show, and oh-so-inspiring. Ian made one of our ‘easy’ dinners a week or two ago, and this is what I was served :)

I had to take a picture. That is carrot mash (it was supposed to be puree, but we don’t have a food processor anymore..) spiced with cinnamon! It was a very nice addition. He tells me this was not the presentation he had in mind, but it definitely spiced up my life :)

Now before you get your panties in a twist because I posted a million delicious things and no recipes.. here are the recipes:

Fudge Truffle Cheesecake

Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake

Quiche (recipe via Joy Sonju)

Spinach and Bacon Quiche (Paula Deen)

6 large eggs

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach, packed

1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1 9-inch refrigerated pie crust

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Combine eggs, cream, salt and pepper in food processor or blender. Wilt the spinach and drain well. Layer spinach, bacon and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust and pour egg mixture on top. Bake 35-45 minutes until egg mixture is set.

Chocolate chip scones (I just added chunks of dark chocolate to this recipe) 

Raspberry Almond Bars

As for the whipped cream.. I am sorry to say I have no recipe. I just dump some whipping cream or double cream into a bowl with some icing (powdered) sugar and some vanilla and whisk until it thickens. You can pretty much just do it to your taste.

Now, go dust off that spring-form pan and have at it! :)

So much to say.. so little time..

I started writing this post two weeks ago.. and then I stopped! Things got crazy and I've been slow on the pick up. It pains me to not finish a post, but some of it sort of timed out during the last two weeks. Undeterred, I'm sharing it anyway! :)

Here’s how it began…

I have SO many things to write about! We are busy, busy, unfortunately, not with packing. While packing is ever looming on the to-do list, it very rarely gets priority status. One of these days that is going to have to change, I’m afraid. But hey, until the clock strikes midnight, we are still over a month away.. so who needs packing?

UPDATE: This is now false. We have started packing and we even have an official pick up day from the moving company! Scaaaaaaaarryyyyyy. As of this very moment, four boxes are packed. That feels good, but we still have a long way to go before next Friday. The good thing is, I find a well-packed box insanely satisfying so that keeps me going. You should see the first four :) Not a lick of breathing room for anything.

So then I continued..

I got my haircut this morning and the walk over is probably 15-20 minutes depending on how tired I am. I forgot, when I was deciding on what route I would take, that I would walk right passed the Boys Brigade Hall. The BBH is the building our church used to meet in when we first moved here. I came up to that building and took a peek at it, and I felt a catch in my throat as I remembered our early days here. That first Sunday when we were so kindly invited to lunch by three very special undergrads. I just remember laughing and laughing through my jet lag/culture shock haze. Those first weeks that were so unsettled and uncomfortable, and yet so exciting. Exploring our new little town, meeting people, discovering how if you were confused about something there was almost always someone at the ready to take you under their wing (perhaps all the while shaking their heads at the incredulous thought that you might be confused about such a thing).

I am trying so hard to just let myself be in denial. To ignore the fact that we are leaving. I keep thinking, ‘Why does this feel like such a big deal? I’m just going back to where I came from..’ And yet, it does feel like a big deal. If I ponder things for too long, I quickly spiral into despair over all the things I will be missing.. friends’ babies growing up, sunny days in the sand, lamenting the darkness together in mid-January at Bible study. It is exactly like when we moved here, but opposite. When we came, every little thing I missed back home broke my heart into a million pieces. Now, as we leave and I am accustomed to missing those things, my heart breaks to consider missing this place and these people, knowing it will never be this way again. It is fluid here, a university setting. People are always coming and going, and even if we stayed, all of our friends would eventually go.

I am treasuring, though. All of these last things and the goodbyes that are just beginning. I am storing up these special treasures and memories. I know they will be sweet and they will ache when I revisit them in the years to come, but I am thankful for them.

The rest of the post is not so time-sensitive. I think we are starting to move into the ‘please can we just get this over with’ phase. I am still finding myself caught off guard by the feelings that come with transition, but the need for finishing tasks and figuring out logistics is doing a good job at squeezing the life out of most of my thoughts. I predict it will take some time to sink in that life is really changing :) Especially since it may change again in about 8 months if the Lord blesses Ian with a job this year.

I am so thankful that I have three sweet guys to enjoy through all these changes! There is a baby that lives in this house who is threatening to turn 6 months old. He keeps us on our toes and is always at the ready with a dimpled smile. I have honestly never known such a smiley baby. He whole body smiles. It's awesome.

Note the playdough next to his head :)

This is old news, but he has joined us in the upright world! It began with an easy reconfiguration of the buggy..

And has expanded tremendously!

He loves being in the exersaucer, which has had to be raised since this picture was taken for our ever-lengthening child.

And big brother often plays with his toys right on the edge of that contraption, which is pure entertainment for little brother (and welcomed free moments for the parents!).

Since Aed tends to be an avid little reader, Asher often gets thrown into the mix regardless of what ‘level’ book is being read. I caught Daddy reading a Bob the Builder (or BtB as we covertly refer to him now so as not to excite a certain someone) book to them, and snapped a priceless picture.

I love love love those furrowed brows! :) It just cracks me up to imagine the various scenarios that could lead to such faces, but the reality is, big brother DOES NOT like it when little brother touches him! He gets very territorial when reading with a parent and gets ever so slightly bent out of shape if baby brother joins the fun. Most of the time Aed is really quite happy and affectionate towards Asher, but touching without Aed’s permission is a no no! :) Try telling that to a child just figuring out that he can swat and pat and grab and hold.

We are also well on our way into the world of solid foods. Asher has a pretty good handle on eating and seems to be following in mama’s footsteps in his preference of fruit over everything else :).

First time in the bumbo!

It did take a few tries to get him to warm up to the idea, but he will straight up yell at you if you’re too slow with the shoveling these days.

Aed is being a super-fun two year old and learning all kinds of things. He’s a great counter and managed to learn the alphabet song without us knowing it :) He’s starting to learn letters and loves pointing them out on our shirts and the cereal boxes. He is doing pretty well so far in dealing with our upheaval, but we haven’t really gotten to the hard part yet. We would so appreciate your prayers for our sensitive little guy. I wrote him a story to get him used to the idea of what is happening, but I think we will still have some hills to climb with him. I love his sensitive heart, but it is, like most things, a blessing and a curse.

Anyway. He loves being creative! Aed gets so excited when I get out the paints, but a few weeks ago I handed him a sheet of stickers and let him have at it..

And he was so sweet to let baby brother join the fun.

He kept showing him the stickers, telling him what animal it was, and saying ‘baby bruva’s havin’ it!’ So cute.

Aed continues to be obsessed with all things wheel-laden and for a few weeks loved having us build structures for his cars to go in.

  

And, continuing with his creative streak, he took some self-portraits! :) Here’s a fine one..

This kid cracks me up.

I will be back with more about some of the fun outings we’ve had recently. There is lots to share before we go, so here’s to hoping my writing fingers are up to it!

Oh, and by the way.. documentation that I push a buggy in a cold place

This is the ultimate farmer’s tan (if you can even really put it into the 'tan' category).. all the way down to my wrists! :)

A Brush with Paint

A loooooooong time ago.. before Aed was two.. before the haircut.. when Asher was still pretty fresh.. I thought it might be a fun activity for Aed to try his hand at painting. He’s not a huge fan of crayons, though he will play with them for a short time (and I mean play.. they usually end up on the floor being pushed or dumped or tossed rather than used for coloring). He sort of likes pens, pencils, and the magnadoodle. But, we just really haven’t found his artistic niche. Though with his current obsession with playdough, I’m beginning to think he’s just more of a 3-D guy. :)

We don’t have a great set up for painting (for children or adults, boohoo.. note the wicker furniture. Bumpy surface, impossible to clean), but I decided to go for it anyway and just hope I could clean up whatever mess was made. Sounds like a good plan, yes? :)

Turns out, painting is very exciting! I had cut bits of colored paper and shown him how to glue as well, so he could make a mixed media painting if he so desired.

(And really, before any of you self-proclaimed ‘non-artistic’ mothers out there begin to lament your lack of creativity-inspired activities.. I did NOT think it through this much when I gave him the paint, brush, and paper.. I pretty much just thought, ‘Well that could be fun’ and gave him stuff :) Blogging can make lots of things look much more sparkly than they really are.. Also, my child is no artistic genius. He glued way more paper to his fingers than he did to his painting :) Just keeping it real here.)

So we got down to work. He was really excited to have his picture taken..

But in the end let me get a sort of good one to show off his lovely painting.

We have some work to do on the quality of our art documentation :)

He didn’t do a lot of painting on the paper itself, but REALLY enjoyed smudging the paint around on the palate. (I see finger paints in our future!) The best part of the whole thing turned out to be watching the water change colors when we rinsed the brush. He asked me over and over again to ‘make watah boo gen.’ (Or in big people terms, make the water blue again.)

One thing I hadn’t considered would be the potential difficulty in doing this while I was holding Asher. I’m a pretty good juggler, but at some point Aed managed to get his hands on his brother when I wasn’t ready for it and Asher got to join in the adventure.

We delved back in to painting again this week on a rainy, grey day and it was loved even more this time around. Fortunately, Asher was sleeping, so avoided painting peril. We got to use lots of colors and Mama helped, so we ended up with a fun, collaborative painting to adorn our refrigerator. (I let him choose the paper.. he chose a scrap piece of yellow which is why part of it is cut off :)

It was so fun to watch his delight as we turned a red(ish) triangle into a smiley face, then gave him a hat, then gave him feet so he could walk, then gave him ground to walk on! I delight in his delight :)

Aed was SO proud of this painting. At various times every day he decides it’s time to ‘see smiles’ and runs over to look at it. He has taken the time to show it to many of his toys and has asked numerous times to take a picture of it. He gets such a kick out of seeing it and counting the smiles. It’s great motivation to see what we can come up with next!

The Beach

We still go!

Even though it is getting frigid and windy and, did I mention really cold?

A few weeks ago we had about a week of really nice sunny, warm weather. Unfortunately, during this wonderful weather, I was juggling two napping babies which meant it was more difficult than ever to take advantage!

After one particularly sunny day that included lots of nap refusals, I decided we just needed to get the heck outside. So we did. We tried and tried and tried to convince Daddy to come with us to the beach because it was SO nice outside. He was relentless in his claims of ‘needing to work’. I was skeptical of this need, but I suppose that very resolve is what has gotten us to this point of completion in his work.. so who can complain, really?

Off we went, Daddy-less, ready for some fun. By the time we arrived one of us was sound asleep..

One of us was feeling rather timid..

And, one of us couldn’t believe what a gorgeous day it was..

Before long the timid one had moved from Mama’s lap..

to full-fledged filling and dumping.

Which is a good thing, because about three seconds after we arrived at the beach the sleeping one woke up to kick his cute little feet in gentle gusts of sandy wind..

Aed loved playing with his bucket and was very focused with each scoop of sand..

I hear sticking out the tongue enhances concentration :)

And we had a wonderful time stripping off the jeans and boots (Aed’s, not mine.. I stayed fully clothed) and playing in the waves. After he warmed up to the idea, I could not get Aed out of the water. He threw the fit I knew was coming when it was time to go, but it was so fun watching him run through puddles and tide pools, flirt with college girls foolishly hoping for a suntan, and refuse to surrender his toes to those lapping waves.  

We may not get any more warm visits to the beach, but this was certainly a sweet one.

Here’s the scoop..

I wrote the last post in the midst of contemplation. We are processing, attempting to figure out how to transport our belongings, wondering how we will say goodbye and what life and these relationships will look like when we do. I completely overlooked the fact that I didn’t leave you with the slightest inkling (unless you already knew, of course) of where we were going or why we were going.

(Let me interject.. THANK YOU for your wonderful comments and emails of support and common understanding after my last post. We appreciated it so much, and I was far more emotional in reading and being reminded of all the wonderful friends and loved ones that we have than I was when I actually wrote that post! Thank you, thank you.)

So, here are those details.

First of all, it’s no big secret that overseas tuition is kind of absurd. Add to that a wonderfully horrible (though better than it was) exchange rate, and you get very poor graduate students. This was a pricey endeavor, and we knew that it would be. Coming into this year, some things changed for us financially that we hadn’t anticipated, so we started considering the possibility of moving back to the States sooner than we had originally planned.

Then, after three years of labor pains, Ian gave birth to this..

Taken on the evening after the first compete draft was printed. You can bet a celebration ensued. 

A completed thesis! Woohoo! When Ian took stock of his work for the coming year over this last summer, it started to look like he’d be submitting much earlier than we had anticipated. So we started considering the possibility of moving back to the States sooner than we had originally planned. (Seeing a trend?)

The next hurdle was (is) finding a job. It seemed a bit defeating to move back to the States with nothing to show for these last 4+ years of education (aside from the new title of Dr.! Hello! But, try telling that to the one who earned it..), but arguments were still strong that moving would be the wisest option for our family and our afflicted bank account.

In the end, we decided to cut 6-7 months off of our stay in St Andrews regardless of Ian’s employment status because the numbers just had a really good argument. They can be very persuasive. So despite the loss of physical presence at his school, Ian will still be applying for jobs and preparing for his defense in the spring. He will be back here at least twice - to defend and then graduate (if all goes as planned :) next summer.

We had such a hard time committing to this change. We had planned on finishing this school year and enjoying another summer before we moved on. It was a really difficult shift in thinking to start to consider our time here ending so soon.

So we will be taking up residence in a comfy little number in rural Indiana with wide open spaces and lots of bedrooms. We will be living with my parents through the spring and probably a good chunk of summer, until hopefully, we move on to a job for Dr. Church.

We are really looking forward to sharing our boys with their family who have missed them so. We are looking forward to a time of rest (well.. at least a little bit) after some very stretching and busy years. We are looking forward to sweet corn and watermelon (ok, maybe that’s mostly me :). We are heading back to where we came from. One step at a time.

Since we have lived here, I have…

learned to look right first when crossing the road.

discovered that I get very motion sick when being transported on the left side of the road rather than the right.

grown, birthed, and loved two beautiful boys.

adjusted to ‘Mexican’ equaling barbeque flavored.

worked in an office, worked in our home.

learned to cook from scratch, including ridiculous substitutes for American recipes.

come to understand what it means to be displaced.

watched the beauty of the immediate bond that can develop when you’re both far from home.

lived in a flat which I loved, and a house which I love more.

grown so accustomed to a tiny grocery store that I am unable to shop without help when visiting the States.

learned to love public transportation.

learned to hate public transportation.

traveled to 12 countries.

baked and loved baking so, so much. I’m thinking about changing my middle name to Sugar.

benefited and suffered from free health care.

enjoyed using my feet to get myself from here to there rather than a vehicle.

become claustrophobic when I’m not in walking distance of water.

been a supporter and been supported.

grown closer to my husband than I realized.

come to love a wide assortment of foods I never gave the time of day before.

walked hundreds of miles through a slow-paced life that lets me live one day at a time.

served, learned, and grown in a little church that was just what we needed.

watched both my babies baptized in a community of believers that love them.

forgotten what it feels like to be completely comfortable in the States.

stopped worrying about if my furniture matches and started being just plain thankful.

learned that it is going to be so much harder than I ever imagined to say goodbye.

When we moved here over four years ago, all I wanted to do was go back. It didn’t feel right. It was hard and uncomfortable. I felt out of place and overwhelmed. Everything felt so different from home. And somehow now, that feels like a different person. This is home. This is where I belong.

We are moving. It has been such a hard process deciding what will be best for our family, but we have decided. As of mid-December, our feet will trek across the customs line and we will be residents of the US once again. I am excited. I’m nervous. I’m a little scared. I’ve done a lot of growing up in this country rather than that one, and I am afraid of the learning and growing I’m going to have to do all over again. I’m afraid of losing what I’ve gained and the treading of water that will have to take place until I can figure out my strongest stroke in a new place.

Our decision became official this morning with the purchase of plane tickets. I talked to Aed a bit about flying on a plane, going to a new house with a new room to stay in for a while. His response was, ‘Go on plane, wanna stay dis house.’

Me too, Buddy.

But it will be good. It will be hard and good and a new adventure. Change doesn’t give in. It forces its way in to every nook and cranny we try to hide and protect. There’s no use in running away. So, here we go. The next step.

Praise the Lord.

Power Outage Conversations

A few weeks ago we were sitting around the table eating our dinner of leftovers, when suddenly, all the lights went out. I was immediately confused.

‘Did the power just go out? Or wait, is this a fuse thing? Do we need to check the fuses?’

After looking around and taking in all of the blank screens where digital clocks formerly were, as well as finding all the little power lights to be out on our various electronics, it was determined that, indeed, the power was out.

Oooooh.. exciting! My first thought was, ‘Oh man, I’m glad we already heated up dinner!’ I don’t think our landlords would have appreciated a kitchen fire to heat up those leftovers :).

As we realized what a power outage at this time of day would mean and began to discuss how we were going to handle it, it became very apparent that we are entirely unaccustomed to thinking non-electrically.

For example. Because it was dinnertime, that meant bedtime was looming. Since both our boys sleep upstairs, we use monitors so we can hear if they wake up while we’re downstairs. Ok, so we’ll leave the living room door open so we can hear a little better. Should be fine.

Next issue. The noisemakers. We are white noise people. Both the boys have white noise playing in their rooms and can’t sleep well without it. As we discussed this I came up with this excellent solution.. ‘Well, we can just use your iPod in Asher’s room, and use our white noise on the computer in Aed’s room.’

Easy, right?

Ian follows with, ‘And what are we going to do when the computer dies?’

Me: ‘Plug it into the.. oh.’

Once I manage to stop laughing, a thought suddenly hits me.

‘Wait, does this mean we can’t flush the toilets?? I seem to remember whenever the power went out growing up we couldn’t flush the toilets?’

Ian: ‘I don’t know.. I think the toilets will be fine.’

Me: ‘Yeah, I remember Dad refilling them with buckets.’

Ian: ‘That’s probably because you guys lived in the middle of nowhere and so had a well, which probably used electricity to pump water to the house.’

Me: ‘Oh.’

Then Ian realizes that if the power is out, that means we won’t be able to heat up the leftover dessert we were saving until the kiddos were in bed.

So, I come up with another zinger..

‘We can still heat it up! We’ll just use the stove instead of the microwave! Oh, wait..’

Ian: ‘Yup. There it is.’

Me: ‘Why am I so bad at this??’

So we focus once again on solving the white noise problem. I took a flashlight up to investigate our situation.. Both noise makers could also be operated by batteries! Yes! I rounded up some batteries for Aed’s, took them up, and viola! You’d never know the power was out (aside from the flashlight usage, of course).

Asher’s, however, took a 9V battery. Turns out we didn’t have one. But, all the fire alarms have them, so I suggested Ian just take one out of the a fire alarm and use it for the night in the noisemaker. He didn’t like this idea. Ian hates messing with the fire alarms. It always ends up with all kinds of unnecessary beeping, climbing on chairs, struggling to get the caps off, etc. It’s not pleasant. So he was already fussy before attempting to remove the battery. As he stood on the chair trying to remove the heat detector from the ceiling, apparently the reality of an evening without electricity began to sink in. All of a sudden he explodes with, ‘What are we even going to do tonight, PLAY SKIPBO?!?! I HATE camping!!’

I proceeded to crack up laughing at his desperation to get the battery out of the detector while dealing with these revelations.

About this time, I hear Asher poop. Shoot. It’s dark. Ian and I both managed to pass yet another test of parenting: changing poopy diapers by flashlight. I guess power outages inspire bowel movements because both kids went for it. Ian tells me that though he was slightly confused, Aed thoroughly enjoyed bedtime by flashlight.

I had a meeting that night, and quickly learned that it was only a small segment of houses right around us that lost power. It was kind of funny being in an electrically lit pub with a few friends, imagining Ian sitting alone doing something (SkipBo?) by candlelight back at our house.

Fortunately, by the time I got home the power was back on and all was well. Aside from the fact that Asher had hardly slept since I left, but that’s another issue altogether..

The Haircut

We’ve been talking for a while about maybe possibly probably needing to cut Aed’s hair.

I’ll admit.. I kind of didn’t want to. We got little kid conditioner to see if we could keep those curls under control.. We tried wetting his hair down to keep those curls under control.. I even took the small amount of my spray gel that was left and mixed it with water to use on Aed’s hair to keep those curls under control..

But, alas, all it took was one nap or nighttime to create a mess of frizzy, semi-curly dread locks on the back of my baby’s head. There was no keeping it under control. I had to give in.

But once I did, I was drooling to take scissors to those curls :) I was daydreaming of a little boy with cute curls sans weird dread locks. So.. we talked about cutting his hair a few times with him, and he got the idea enough that he would pull his hair out as far is it would go (almost as if he wanted to confirm that it was indeed, too long :) when we mentioned it.

He climbed up into his big boy chair, ‘all nakey!’ as he described it (he loves being nakey).

And we set him up with a Bob the Builder marathon so he wouldn’t focus on the fact that I was wielding scissors around his head.

(all nakey.. aside from his stripey socks :)

Worked like a charm.

I snipped and chopped and cut of lots of little curls.

And I’m so glad I did!

His hair is so cute now that it’s shorter! Unfortunately, he is really not okay with having pictures taken these days. The ironic thing is he still wants to ‘see Aed’ in the back of the camera, but won’t let me take the picture to begin with. Figure that one out.

Maybe if Daddy holds him he'll let me take a picture?

Nope. Not even then.

We spent the next several days ooohing and aaahing about how cute he is. And, other than the occasional ‘Shoot, now I have to do this on a regular basis’ feelings, I am loving the shorter curls :)

I love this picture!

It's from one of our baby/mama teas earlier this spring and I think it might be my favorite photo that we've captured of the kiddos :) Too cute!

Let's Just Go Ahead..

And make a week of it!

I mean why not? 6 straight days of blog posts? OK! But that means I have a good excuse if I skip a few days now :)

This one is going to be fun if you like pictures of cute boys..

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Say CHEESE!!!

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'Aedster, watcha doin'?'

'Pinnin' wheel, Mama!'

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EMERGENCY!

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'Hey Aed, I'll give you a snack if you go lay down on the couch next to your brother!'

'No, LAY on the couch.. like on your tummy..'

'Couldn't you guys at least LOOK at the camera??'

'That's better, but why don't you lay next to him.. it will be cute!'

'Nack, Mama?'

'No, the snack was a bribe and you didn't do what I wanted you to do.'

Surprisingly, he was perfectly ok with that answer :)

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So.. about that drooling thing.. Are we doing that already?

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Have a good weekend.