29Sept2008: Day 127: Bike!

Sorry for the late post. Chris and I watched Grey's Anatomy on-line last night and it was after 11pm so we needed to get to bed. When the day first started, I thought it was going to be a doozy as Makenna was very upset as Chris was leaving for work. But she calmed down shortly after and we got into our normal routine for the day.

Chris actually came home early - before 5 pm! That was a shock to say the least. Shortly after arriving home, the neighbor that he works with came over and brought a push bike for Makenna. He got Makenna up from her nap and she was elated to see a bike, "bike, bike, bike" is all she could say. Since it was still nice out, I suggested that Chris take her for a walk with the bike down to the park while I made dinner.

He came back a short while later and Makenna had a nice bump on her face. I guess she fell off the bike, face first. He said she cried until he put her back on the bike and then all was right again with the world. I figured this is all she'd want to do for the rest of the night and would be upset when she wasn't near it, but she's actually been okay about leaving it alone for the rest of the night. It's now one more thing to try and swindle her way out of going to bed.

We call it a push bike because there's a handle you can stick out the back of the bike and push it. I'm not sure if they have these back in the states. I don't recall seeing them before we left but they probably do, or will soon. She doesn't put her feet on the pedals quite yet. She can reach them if she tries but she doesn't really try. I'm glad we finally got her a bike, as she's always trying to snatch someone else's when we're at the park.

28Sept2008: Day 126: Don't take after your father!

Chris has officially taught Makenna a bad habit. Well, bad in my opinion, of chewing ice. She loves to play with ice in a cup, as to be expected, but now she also likes to get it small enough to put in her mouth and crunch on. I can't stand it when Chris does it, especially during movies where everything is quiet except the "crunch, crunch, crunch" happening from his mouth. Now I have two children doing it. Great!

Other than that, another typical Sunday. I did go back to church tonight for a woman's conference, that was actually broadcast yesterday in the states, but they showed it here tonight. I hate to sound stupid when I ask them questions, but I showed up a few minutes late and it was showing in black in white. So I stupidly asked, "is it always shown in black and white?" Madonna laughed and said, yes, they are way behind the times. Then she clarified and said that they had technical problems when recording it from yesterday. After, they had hot chocolate and desserts. They had whip cream in a can and I broke the spout it comes out of. I thought it was like the type they have back at home where you press it to one side or another to get it to come out. Well, it wasn't. There was an actual lip type thing that you were supposed to be pushing. Now I really felt embarrassed. Luckily they still had a couple other cans.

Chris went to his church this morning and the priest was retiring. I guess it was really sad as he had been there for 10 years and it reminded him a lot of when his dad retired from Good Shepherd back at home. St. Marks, here in the area is very popular and it will be interesting to see how well they survive the change like Good Shepherd did. St. Marks is who holds the play group that Makenna attends on Wednesdays.

We also were smarter in that we put Makenna down for a nap when we got back home from church. We tried going without one last Sunday afternoon and realized she still needs one, not only for her sake but for ours as well. Even if it's only for an hour. It makes for a much better, happier evening. One other things she's doing is bargaining before naps or bedtime. It's time to brush teeth, wash hands, get a drink, eat some fruit, or watch Dora or some other show. She runs the gambit in trying different things to see what she can get away with. Usually I do the brush teeth and wash hands. As for the other things, it depends on how much time she has before she's actually going to bed. I just think it's funny that she tries all these things now. She certainly is "brilliant" as they say over here.

27Sept2008: Day 125: Drama Queen

Well, unfortunately Chris didn't come from his business trip until tonight so no sight-seeing adventures for today. Makenna and I just went down to the park down the road for a bit. It was a nice day but at 11am, the slides were still wet and caked with leaves and other odds and ends. So she mostly went on the swing.

We are definitely getting a little drama queen on our hands. She will do various whines and cries to get to our sympathies, especially when she's trying to get out of something - mostly trouble. She has now also added various areas of pain that she's usually inflicted on herself to play to our condolences. She is always hurting her finger in some manner. Usually by accidentally biting it when she's putting food in her mouth. So then you here "finger, finger" in a whiny tone. I finally said today, "I'm surprised you have any fingers left". That seemed to stop her for a moment. She still also bangs her head on things or things on her head. I was hoping that she'd have grown out of that already but it seems to have increased.

She was certainly very excited to see her daddy. She was literally screaming with glee when he got home. She had asked about him all week, mostly at night. They got to play together, and work on flashcards. He got to see how her vocabulary has grown in just 5 days. He even thinks she looks different. He can see that her temperament hasn't changed when she wants something. She certainly tries to exert her will.

26Sept2008: Day 124: Oooh Mannn!

Today was much better. It was a bit trying around her nap time. She just completely breaks down when she's tired. I try to get too much done while she's up so that I can rest during her nap. Sometimes, like today, I just have to give in and let her nap and get things done while she's napping. Thank goodness I was able to change my gym appointment to this morning from the afternoon otherwise I think I would've had another mess on my hands like yesterday.

I was hoping to go to the park with her before her nap as it was such a nice day but since she was having a hard time as I was getting clothes off the line outside, I knew the park was out. I know she went outside with the kids from nursery while I was at the gym, so I didn't feel as guilty.

She was really into Dora (Dora the Explorer [or Explora if you listen to Brian Regan]) today. We must have watched this one episode I taped at least 5 times. In this episode, the monkey is hiding in the tree and she thinks that funny. Then the fox "swiper" says "oh man" when he gets stopped from swiping something, so Makenna would copy it after he said it. It was very cute to hear her.

She also got the floor in the dining room very wet. Again, one of those, "you should've known better" moments. Water is just too tempting to this child. We have a Brita pitcher and as I was just finishing getting lunch together, I heard what sounded like a waterfall. It dawned on me that it was water and where it was coming from. Sure enough, Makenna is standing on the dining room chair, watching it all spill out of the pitcher onto the table, onto the floor. It wouldn't be so bad if the floor wasn't carpeted. So I'm standing on towels trying to soak it up off the rug. Luckily the sun light comes in through the sliding doors and hits that spot.

A good friend sent me this quote today and it's only too true, "...remember that kids need to be kids. They are on the edge of happiness, danger and fun at all times. I just don't know when is when."

25Sept2008: Day 123: No More Selfish Days

I tried having a selfish day today and I realize that I just can't do that anymore. I was just tired out from yesterday and I wasn't in the mood to go to the Thursday toddler group today. That meant staying in the house until my gym appointment which wasn't until 1:30pm. I should've at least gone out when it got nicer out and took her to the park. She was frustrated which in turn meant getting into things or doing things that would frustrate me. Plus, we got up late again so putting her down for a morning nap wasn't really going to work, although, I probably should've done it anyways.

By the afternoon, when she went to nursery, she was in a better mood. Plus we got a "brownie" at the gym. It's really a chocolate cookie, but because of the color, it looks like a brownie. She had been asking all week and I told her that on Thursday we'd get one. So I felt good about keeping to that promise and she enjoyed it. Then it was home for a much needed nap.

I woke her up after a couple of hours, and she was not too happy. So that started the frustration all over again. I was able to calm her down after about 10 minutes. I think she was just still very tired. We ran to the grocery store for fruit, as she's been eating more fruit lately, but mostly at night. She tried running away from me their and that made me mad. That whole, "bye, bye Makenna, I'm leaving" trick didn't phase her. She just kept running the other way. So then I had to go get her. Got her home into a bath where things continued to be frustrating. She drinks the bath water - which I find gross, and probably very unhealthy. So I took away her toy that she drinks out of - actually two toys as she improvised. Then she was mad and started dumping water out of the tub. That didn't go over with me. We got through that and made it through the rest of the night.

I obviously say the word "No" way too much as Makenna has taken to saying it dramatically and holding the "oh" sound for long time. Today was a day full of No's. I don't understand why kids will put the grossest things in their mouth but ask them to eat a carrot, and they shake their heads no.

24Sept2008: Day 122: Fluffy, Fly, Walk, Hi-Seek

Today was pretty busy. We got up late (8am), and would've slept longer if I didn't have to get the garbage out. Makenna woke up in the middle of the night, from 4am - 5am. Just chatting away. She did start to cough at one point, and I went into her room twice. The first time was to tell her that it was still night time and she had to sleep, and to cover her with blankets. That worked for Chris when he did it. The second time was when she was coughing I wanted to make sure she didn't get sick all over so I went in to sit her up but she didn't want to. So then I just covered her up again. She just talked herself back to sleep.

We went to play group and she again would stand over kids who were in the flintstone car, as I like to call it, hoping they would get out. She eventually got in it a couple of times. She also actually sat still for the song time. I cleverly put on her shoes during that time so that she'd have to sit on my lap. She also got an opportunity to paint. The first time she's ever painted. I made sure she wore clothes that I didn't care if she got paint on, but they also had paint smocks. She seemed to like it but couldn't decide what medium she liked. She kept going between paint, crayon, and pencil - all of which were red as you can see. She did get some on her and me, but it happened more when she was trying to wash her hands. She would grab on to me and I was like aaagghhh. Hopefully this is washable paint. I hung it on the refrigerator and she's always saying dooodle-do, for cock-a-doodle-do (her version of it) when she sees it.

Then it was to run errands and home for a quick nap. After dinner, we went to church as they had something going on for the women again, but this time for all 3 wards at once. Surprise, surprise, it was still a small turn out. Maybe 15 people. I would find that very disheartening, but oh well. After I dropped Hannah's mom back at her house, I got home, and realized that i forgot my coat, with the house keys back at the church. So I hurried back hoping that someone was still there and thank goodness they were. I'd hate to think who I'd have to get to let me in the house or at least back in the church to get my keys.

As for the title of the post, if you recall some time ago, I wrote how everything was "hot" to Makenna. Well, lately, things have been fluffy and then they would fly. So, if she saw a dog, she'd say, "fluffy, fluffy" then "fly" making a gesture with her hand as if it was flying. So I then tell her "doggies don't fly, they walk". She now, will say, as we're eating breakfast, "frog, walk". I then have to tell her how frogs hop like bunnies. Well, now she'll say "frog, frog" and I'll say, "where's the frog?" and she'll say, "Hi-Seek" (Hide & Seek). So I say, "oh, that's why mommy can't see it, it's playing Hide & Seek" Then she'll say "walk" or "fly" depending on her mood. This seems to be our usual routine lately.

Chris is feeling 90% better, he says, although he sounds really congested. I'm doing better, not 100% but not on as much ibuprofen as I have been, and Makenna, well, she's always doing well as long as she's getting her way. Hopefully tomorrow will bring even more health.

23Sept2008: Day 121: I Love You!

Well, it looks like all 3 of us are now inflicted with some sort of illness or other. I still have a sore mouth which I take Ibuprofen for as I'm not sure what our dental coverage is over here, or if they can even really do anything anyways. Chris is, luckily, away on a business trip for the night. I say "luckily" because he's getting very sick, and he's not here to pass it along. Makenna, the one with the congested cough and runny nose, is the only one who's fairly upbeat.

When Chris called us to tell us the bad news about his being sick, I was able to get Makenna to say "I Love You" to him on the phone. It came out "I wuv you", as would be expected, but hey, it's the first time we got her to say it and it couldn't come at a better time for Chris. I, of course, being the main nurturer for this child felt a bit slighted, but I was able to get her to say it to me when I put her to bed. So now I feel better.

We went out tonight to visit some other girl in the church, who has 3 children (all under 6), and who now, along with her husband, has moved in with her parents. They're trying to paint their house and get it ready to rent out next week. Can you imagine living in a small space with 8 people? I think there's only 8 but regardless, if I think back to our first apartment in Maidstone and having to put 8 people in there - I think only a few would come out walking alive.

Makenna enjoyed her time visiting as they had a few different riding toys to sit on. She kept moving from one to another. She had to fight with their son who is just a bit over two, but she towered over him, not that, that made a difference, but she eventually got on one and he gave up trying to hoard them all. He realized he couldn't possibly sit on all of them at once so it was a losing battle. It was good to visit as it gave Makenna and I something to do at night.

22Sept2008: Day 120: It's Your Own Fault

Let me start by saying that as bill Cosby put it, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired," or at least I think Bill Cosby said it. It seems that since July one of the three of us, if not more than one, have been afflicted with some sort of illness. Chris has a stuffy nose, but that's possibly allergies, Makenna has a runny nose and cough, and I have a canker sore that is below my tongue at the base which is incredibly painful. I said to Chris yesterday that I don't recall ever being this sick constantly.

On to today. After I took my shower, I left Makenna in the bathroom, for just a moment. During that moment, I was thinking to myself, "it's your own fault for leaving her in their if she gets into the toilet." Then I thought, well I'd hear her at least lift the toilet seat. So I walked back in and sure enough, she had scooped out water from the toilet with one of her bath toys. She certainly is quick when she wants to be! Like I said, it was only a couple of minutes so she didn't get into things too far.

Makenna and I went shopping this evening for groceries, but I was able to find her some "wellies" too. If you recall, that's boots, specifically for water. The hard part was finding a pair that she could get her foot all the way into that wasn't way too big. But for 3 pounds, I figured, they were a good deal. I'm sure they'll be used quite often this Fall season.

21Sept2008: Day 119: More thoughts on yesterday

As not too much happened out of the norm today, I thought I would write about some things I thought were interesting about yesterday's trip.

The Hatfield House was very nice, and they actually had a lot of costumes from the movie "Elizabeth" with Cate Blanchett. I guess they were her costumes and it shows how tiny she is. Some of the books in the library area of the house were extremely old and worn looking. Of course, going into any area with books and Makenna is a danger zone as she loves books and looking at books. Even if it has no pictures, she'll look at it.

The one thing I thought that was really neat was that they had a scroll there that when unrolled would show the family history of the queen Elizabeth all the way back to Adam & Eve. I find that hard to believe, but Chris said that a lot of the kings and queens had that type of lineage written down. It's too bad that we, in this day, can't quite make it back that far in our family trees.

I understand why they won't let us take pictures in some of these places but it's unfortunate as a lot of these places are really neat to just take all in and see the history and the paintings are just phenomenal. A lot of pictures at this place were of Adam and Eve. They had modern photos of the current Marquess of Salisbury (whatever that means), who own the house.

As for the Cathedral, it wasn't as "ornate" like Chris said yesterday and I have never heard of Saint Alban. The boys choir was neat to listen to. They are in the middle of a lot of restoration of the church so I think that's what detracted from a lot of what it had to offer. Makenna loved it, as Chris mentioned yesterday, due to the ramps. She pretty much could've worn herself out going up the steps and running down the ramps.

There was actually a lot of people around the outside of the church, mostly teenagers. I think it was kind of like a park of sorts outside for people to sit and picnic, and being that it was a very nice day, there were a lot of people out.

We did get to see the police come up to one drunk "kid" (probably in his early 20's) and take his can of beer and pour it out and talk to him about how much he's had and how long he's been drinking. Not sure if they happened to be in the area or if someone called them. He was just sitting outside by himself when we saw him. Not sure what the laws about open container are over here but it's not like I'll find out from personal experience.

20Sept2008: Day 118: Hatfield House & St. Alban's Cathedral

As she wrote, Teri came up to Bedford this week and meet me there. There is a track and emissions test house there and we are testing our bus. I have been up there quite a bit and will likely be up there quite a bit more. It is a good jumping off point though for seeing more Northern points.

Makenna managed to sleep very well yesterday and woke up around 7. We lounged around for a while watching Happy Feet and fighting with Makenna every 5 minutes so that we wouldn't have to change it. For some reason she gets board about 10 minutes into the show and wants something different. Anyway, we got about 30 minutes into it before we lost the battle and had to change it.

We went to McDonald's for breakfast and Makenna for some reason felt it necessary to spit out her milk down her front a couple of times. Once we got through that she managed to eat some pancakes with syrup which is the first time she has done that (syrup I mean).

We then headed down to the Hatfield House, which is the birthplace home of Queen Elizabeth. She was basically imprisoned there while Queen Mary (Henry VIII daughter) was in power, but when she died, Elizabeth was next in line. She was an interesting person, she apparently started the secret service. There is a famous picture of her in the house that has her with a robe with eyes and ears all over it and she is holding a rainbow because rainbows cannot exist without a sun...apparently, she is the sun. Anyway, the house is amazing with a lot of incredible art work and a lovely garden. Makenna enjoyed getting too close to the fountains and making her parent nervous, but she didn't fall in. There were about 10 or so rooms to see and it was full of armor and paintings. Makenna's favorite part was the ramps on the steps to allow handicap and stroller access. She would walk up the steps and then run down the ramp saying "Whee!".

After that, we decided to go to St. Alban's which was close by. There was supposed to be a Castle there, but we didn't see it, we did see the Cathedral though. On initially walking into it, there wasn't really much to see as the church was under repair and most of the statues were destroyed during after King Henry VIII ordered all Abby's to be shutdown. There was a large abbey there. I was a little disappointed to see all sorts of modern people replacing the statues that should be on the pedestals, people from all sorts of faiths. They were apparently done by the youth of the cathedral and were a bit out of place for such a sacred place, so I thought I would be really disappointed. But, was I wrong, there weren't any crypts or sarcophagus of ancient bishops, but what there was was the most amazing sculptured wall. It was really impressive with statues of all sorts of people I don't know, but a massive crucifix in the middle. I'll try to put something more on Sunday morning...with pictures.

19Sept2008: Day 117: Calgon - Take me away!!!

I doubt they even sell Calgon here but I needed it. I was trying to pack and get ready to drive up to see Chris who was up in Bedford again. This little PAIN IN THE BUTT would not stop getting into things. I would put things in the suitcase....she'd take them out. If not that, she'd be taking her clothes out of the drawers or getting into the kitchen cabinets, or going up to the 3rd floor, or....it just went on and on. I was so frustrated that I came close to calling Chris and telling him forget it. He happened to call and I unloaded on him. He said to just take a rest and then come up as they were going to be working past 6pm.

So I did. I put Makenna on my lap and held her and was rubbing her back and she promptly fell asleep. Like father, like daughter. After about an hour, then we finished getting ready and left. It was a good trip, as not much traffic back-up, and Makenna fell back to sleep the whole way.

We got to the hotel which was a very nice place and promptly, Makenna got into everything. They have instant tea/coffee, creamers, cups, sugar in the rooms and that went everywhere. We waited for Chris to show and then went to look for dinner. We went into Bedford and started walking and found a....Chinese buffet. It was probably the best one we've found. Still not the usual stuff that we're used to but more on the Chinese side than Indian food side. Makenna only ate a couple of bites then wanted to leave. So we had to keep her occupied with sweets. Not my idea of good mothering but it's better than a screaming child while you're trying to eat.

Then we just went back to the hotel and eventually went to bed. She had to sleep on a cot and when I finally turned off the light, she laid right down and went to sleep. Again, like father, like daughter.

18Sept2008: Day 116: Are you alright?

We were able to get off to the playgroup today and took Hannah and her sister Bethany. Hannah really enjoyed it. She walked around looking for kids to play with while Makenna just clinged to me. Hannah is quite the singer. You can hear her in the backseat singing away. Makenna did okay. She wanted to be carried most of the time until I finally put her down and either let her lay on the floor or she'd get up.

Speaking of the floor, Makenna has this thing when she's trying to get attention, or get out of trouble, where she'll splay herself out on the floor and say "are you alright?" She keeps asking until one of us either repeats "are you alright?" or says, "I'm glad you're alright". If it's when she's in trouble (usually on the naughty step where she'll then splay herself out), I try and ignore her. It is funny and cute to see what she does to try and get my attention diverted.

Tonight she went into the kitchen and I followed figuring she was going to get into something and she said, "come on kemma", as she knew that's what I was going to say. Plus, we just got off the phone with Grandma Jones, and grandma said, "I miss you to Makenna" and Makenna said it back! That was the first time I heard her say that. Now if we could only get her to say "I love you."

17Sept2008: Day 115: Ewwww - Gross!!!

This morning, we woke up to an unfortunate happening. Chris went in to get Makenna up and found that at some point, she had gotten sick in bed. She obviously hadn't digested her dinner as it was in a lump on her bed - besides the smeared pieces that she had slept in, and that were in her hair. I know, too much information. I'm so glad that I got to do the bath and Chris cleaned up the sheets and blankets.

What's odd is that Makenna never cried. We think it happened some time in the night, possibly when she first went to bed. She seemed to be okay. I happened to have a health check-up at the doctor's office today so I asked the nurse what she thought. She said, "she seems full of beans now" so just keep an eye on her and don't feed her anything heavy. The reason the full of beans comment came out is because Makenna was getting into everything in the office that she could. Makenna did later in the afternoon say "tummy" but she seemed okay. Please, let's not have that happen again right away...if ever. I realize that might be a big thing to wish for.

I kept her home from play group today, mainly because she didn't get a morning nap and she'd be miserable an hour into it I figured. Hopefully, we'll try and get to one tomorrow or play with Hannah again. We'll have to see what the morning brings.

A couple of other things, to close on a positive note, that she's been doing lately, is that she'll go into a dark room, or semi-dark room, and go "hello....are you here?" Not sure how that came about. Then also, she's been going, "ummm" and then making a smacking noise like her tongue against her teeth. Kind of like you hear people do when they give talks.

16Sept2008: Day 114: Oops - Dropped

It was bound to happen....Makenna broke a corel dish that doesn't belong to us. I was not too happy to say the least. It was only a small one but we don't have many dishes that we can use in the microwave or store food in. Now we have one less. Then, she wouldn't stay out of the danger zone. If she happened not to be trying to walk into the mess, then she was making another one some place else. All the while, I was trying to make sure dinner didn't burn. Chris, unfortunately, was not home yet. My patience wore extremely thin at this point. I had to sweep and then vacuum up to make sure I got all of the pieces as we walk barefoot in the kitchen quite often.

I think part of the problem was that I went to the gym in the afternoon (as the nursery was full in the morning), which set me off my schedule. Then when I got home I couldn't get into the shower as there was an electrician at the house. He needed to install an outdoor outlet and it took him over an hour and by that time, it was too late for Makenna to have an afternoon nap and for me to get in a shower. Nothing like stewing in your own sweat for a few hours.

On a positive note, the new website for family history that I wrote about some weeks ago is now up and on-line as of today. I got into it a couple of times, when I could squeeze it in, and it is pretty different. So far, all I had to do was add Chris as my spouse, and my mom's parents and all this other information filled in. They already had Makenna listed under me as we're members of the church, and my parents. So it'll be neat to go through the information to see what information they had that I hadn't yet found previously and to be able to connect to others doing the same ancestry work on the family.

15Sept2008: Day 113: The time has come

Well, the time has come to start thinking about potty training Makenna. I'm not sure if I'm ready. I'd be glad, obviously, to get rid of the diapers and that whole deal, but I think our outings on the weekends will be much harder as we'll have to be close to bathroom facilities. Not to mention the accidents that will occur that have to be expected.

The thing is, that she's getting ready. Lately she's been telling us poopy and then a few minutes later she'll go...in her diaper. On Saturday, I tried getting her on the toilet but it was too big and she was nervous about falling in, I assume. Granted, she started saying "potty" at least a month ago, but I think that was back when she was more interested in getting into the toilet to play in it.

She can't quite pull her pants up or down yet, which is another sign, but I figure I better start reading up on it. Hannah's mother told me that she puts Hannah on the training potty in the morning as she watches her favorite cartoon. Hannah is 18 months old (I think - somewhere around that age). So I figure that's a good idea. Plus, my mom gave me ideas on how to do it one day. I'm not sure if I can do it alone in one day. I might wait until General Conference (church), where we'll be home on a Sunday all day. That way I can have Chris help me. That gives me a few weeks to prepare.

So tonight we went out and bought a couple of training potty's. One was just a simple one, and the other one was part of a "package" that comes with a training DVD, pull up pants, the potty, stickers, and a steering wheel. Maybe I'll just have Makenna watch the DVD and learn from that. I realize the steering wheel is a bit weird but it's a potty package for boys so they can sit there and drive a car while they are doing their business. Hopefully that doesn't translate to Makenna as to when you're really supposed to go as she currently has that driving fetish of hers. That's why we got this one compared to the one for girls which was just a pink potty (instead of blue), and a wand of some sort. Why is it that girls get a "magic wand" to learn to go to the bathroom but boys can drive?

14Sept2008: Day 112: Hair!

Today, after Makenna's bath, I could actually comb her hair and....she had a snarl. I realize it's not earth-shattering news by any means but as most of those who read this knows, my girl hardly has hair. She's almost two and we have the same bottle of shampoo from when she was a newborn. She still doesn't have a whole lot of hair but it was pretty neat to get to be able to comb some hair. I'm sure I'll probably regret being able to comb it as time goes on as she'll most likely whine and complain as I have to comb through it. I remember being young and not liking my hair brushed.

Makenna also took the opportunity to say "hooray" when the hymn was done in church today. I think she was happy that it was the last one, meaning it was almost time to go home. Daddy had to take her out for a bit as it's too hard to sit still a whole hour.

Speaking of church, I received a calling today. For those of you that read this from my church you'll find this funny....my calling is enrichment specialist. It's like I never left the states! I had that same calling at church before I left. The difference is I have to plan something every month instead of just once a quarter. Luckily, they already have the rest of the year planned out so hopefully I'll only have to come up with ideas for next year. I have to coordinate and make sure things come into place for the activities that are planned so far. I was lucky to go without a calling for the past three months, but I think it's interesting how I got the same one.

13Sept2008: Day 111: Hampton Court Palace

Today we went to Hampton Court Palace in the South West of London. It is absolutely massive for one thing, but it isn't the same as the Louvre. The Louvre is much more polished and refined. This palace is beautiful, but it is made out of brick and just doesn't compare to the massive stone work of the Louvre. Apparently, the English Royalty were always trying to beat the French opulence of their Palaces in addition to trying to always beat the militarily. I'm not sure they ever succeeded in crushing the French in a war, thought they did have successes, but they certainly didn't beat them with their palaces. I'm probably insulting some of my British readers, if so, sorry, but, get over it already, the French crushed you with their wasteful spending of their royalty...boo hoo.

Really, I think a lot of the splendor and opulence was destroyed or sold off when the Royalists lost during the civil war. Oliver Cromwell actually was given the Hampton Court Palace to live in and his wife lived there and he spent every weekend there.

Hampton Court Palace was actually built by Wolsey the advisor to King Henry VIII. It was Wolsey's job to make sure that Henry won in his fight for Glory to rule over the whole of Europe, but after the Roman Emperor defeated the French and stole the opportunity from Henry, this basically broke trust in Wolsey as his advisor. Wolsey's final failure was with getting a divorce approved by the Pope for the King and as a result "forced" Henry VIII to break with the Roman Church. Wolsey was heading for the Tower to be beheaded when he died. Some people thought it was dysentery, but others thought he may have taken his own life. After this, King Henry VIII redesigned much of Hampton Court Palace and spent huge amounts of money on tapestries and furnishings and such. There is one hall where King Henry had tapestries of gold and silver thread made specifically to clothe the walls there and they cost as much as a warship to make. He was fabulously wealthy and had no problem showing it off.

Various other Kings and Queens have lived in the Palace over the years. Each King or Queen would build on or rebuild a wing of the place for their viewing rooms and private residences. It was especially interesting to hear how the kitchen worked. They would have to feed 600-1200 people at each meal. They could only stay for a few months at any one of the palaces or castles because it would so rob the surrounding area of resources that there would be no food left so they had to move around quite often. They did have to pay for the food though, just in case you thought they didn't. The treasury would have to pay for everything. It was a huge expense.

Makenna only had one fit today when she was tired in the afternoon. We just tied her down in the cart and put the seat all the way back and she eventually fell asleep. But, man did she make a lot of noise. Screaming at the top of her lungs. Everyone was commenting on how she has such a strong voice. I really have to get her singing lessons...maybe she can be the next Celine Dion.

12Sept2008: Day 110: Sues Me, Bip

Today, while we were in the pool, Makenna burped and before I even had a chance to tell her to say excuse me, she said "sues me, bip" (Excuse me, burp). I just started laughing. I praised her for saying excuse me. I guess some things do start to sink in after telling her over and over every day to say excuse me. Of course at lunch time she was trying to force out burps. At what age do kids typically start learning how to burp? I know it's a natural occurrence but when do they learn they can "force" more out? It seems kind of early to me.

Right now, she's on the floor playing toys with daddy. They're playing with a puzzle and having fun. It's so cute to watch them play together. He's trying to teach her colors and shapes and numbers with this one clock puzzle we got from her Great Aunt Lori for Christmas last year.

Other than that, it was a Costco day. Spent about 145 pounds (so close to $300!). Hopefully we'll be set for a while. Although we were just there two weeks ago, maybe 3. Makenna enjoyed running away from us in the store. That was another bonding time with daddy as he had to chase after her.

Another thing I wanted to mention that I've noticed is that it seems like news reporters over here need more training. They struggle to find new questions to ask. For instance, today while I was at the gym watching the news about the fire in the Euro Tunnel, they kept asking an "official" the same questions but just a little different. The official had basically repeated everything he said three times within a 8 minute period. One guy asked him, what the status of things were and the official replied that they have about 50-60 fireman in the tunnel at a time rotating as it's hard with all the equipment they have to carry in, etc. Then how they'll have to assess the damage and see when it can re-open and how it started. Then another reporter asked about the fireman to which the official replied how they have 50-60 men rotating, etc., etc. Then another guy asked about what the next steps will be. The official started talking about assessing the damage...and on and on. You get the picture. It was ridiculous! I was done working out otherwise it could've gone on endlessly. Before this news story ,they had a story on for 20 minutes or more about a holiday/leisure company going under. I can only imagine the questions that made the interview go that long (I chose not to listen at that time). Plus, as they were interviewing, they were doing it in the wind and you couldn't really hear the reporters questions very clearly as the wind was whipping over the mic and they weren't really talking into the mics to ask the question. Oh, then another guy started to give answers to the questions and they still kept the camera on the first guy. So here's some guy off camera, who you can't see talking away, again, giving the same answers. About two minutes later, they figured, "hey, I guess we should show this guy who's talking." Wow, pretty bad.

I guess the bad news about all of this is that we'll have to see if the Euro Tunnel opens up soon so that we can take our trip back to France again.

11Sept2008: Day 109: Downtown Gillingham

Today Makenna and I walked to downtown Gillingham. It was a way that I had not yet walked and have been wanting to for quite some time. I finally found the train station, Aldi's (yes, they actually have Alidi's stores here), and a Woolworth's. I was hoping to find rain boots for her at Woolworth's but no luck. I did find step stools so that I don't have to hold her up to the sink now to wash her hands, and I was tempted to buy potty training chairs, but I'm a bit hesitant. Not sure if she's ready yet. Some days, I think she may be more ready than I am.

While at Woolworth's I ran into Madonna, not THE Madonna, that would've been weired, but the mother of Hannah, (and Bethany,) who goes to our church. She said that they were going to go to the park after, so we tagged along and played at the park. Makenna, and Hannah, are at an age where they don't really play with each other necessarily, but there was one point where they were both on the swings and both saying "Wheee".

It was getting close to lunchtime and close to raining so I invited them over. What was funny to see was how Makenna, once in the house, went right up to Hannah, towering over her and put her face into Hannah's and started jabbering something. I wasn't sure if she was saying, something like, this is My house and my toys or if it was more like, hey, I'm glad you're here to play.

We had lunch, and then they played, but not together really. Makenna wanted to watch Ice Age so they both watched that a little bit while Madonna and I talked. It was nice to be able to talk to another adult during the day. At the gym, I'm just pretty much focused on what I'm doing and I'll occasionally strike up a conversation with a mother in the pool but it's nice to sit and talk about families and children. Her other little girl, Bethany is only 3 months old but a solid baby. I don't know how she's so big when all that I see that girl do is spit-up. Not just a little, but like an ounce at a time!

They left a little after 1pm and Makenna went down for a nap. I could tell she was tired about 11am as she was rubbing her eyes and didn't want to walk, but didn't want to go in the stroller either. At one point while we were walking home from the park, she reached up and held Madonna's hand to walk home. She thought it was neat how Makenna trusted her. Hopefully, we'll have more opportunities to have days like today.

10Sept2008: Day 108: When Play Imitates Life

We went back to a play group that was on hiatus for the summer. Makenna really enjoyed it last time (and the only time,) that we went so I was hoping that it would go really well.

She certainly did enjoy playing with the toys. If "art imitates life" as they say, and all the books say that children mimic their parents, especially the same sex parent, then I must do a lot of driving, vacuuming and cooking. There are so many different toys and things to do at this playgroup that it seemed like she walked around aimlessly at first taking it all in. Then she found the plastic car that you sit in and move around like Fred Flintstone. She kept trying to stand over kids who were in the car as if to say, "ummmm, when do you think you'll be done?" As soon as a kid got out, she rushed over to get in. One little boy would see her coming and hop back in. She eventually got to get in and would drive around saying, "beep, beep". She also found a toy vacuum that she'd pick up and push around, then run to the kitchen area and carry a pan or put things in the microwave. Then she'd run back to try and get the car again. There were other toy cars to sit on but it was the red one that she wanted.

When it was time to pick up, that's where we had the problem. They have reading, and singing time for the last 15 minutes and she just wanted to play. All the toys were already picked up so I had a big fight on my hands to keep her out of the toys. She did the rigid body, screaming act. I put her in a chair but she just kept getting out. I went to grab the stroller to tell her it was time to go then and she started to calm a bit. By then, they brought out musical toys to play with and she was into that, for all of about three minutes. Then the fight returned. By the time I was ready to just walk out with her, it was time to go anyways.

I'm sure I'll go back as I think she enjoys the majority of it and it's only one pound. Compared to the one tomorrow which I may only go to once a month now as it's such a fight for the first 40 minutes and more money.

On a down note...I think I'm catching a head cold again...from her. Will this illness ever leave this family?

9Sept2008: Day 107: How about some cheese with that Whine?

Well, I think the cold is starting to kick in some more for Makenna. We're back to that whiny, short-tempered child we had last time she was sick. She's still happy for the most part but she definitely gets more demanding and whiny when she wants something. We have to calm her down enough to tell us what the problem is so that we can all be happy. One is if she can't watch a show that she likes - or if we tell her to wait a minute before we put it on.

She loves a couple of shows over here - one is called Nina and Neurons - which is about using your different senses to figure things out. It has a main character, Nina, who does experiments with children trying to answer their questions. So for instance one child wanted to know what clouds felt like. So using the neuron of "touch," Nina brought different things for the kids to touch. One was cotton, and one was cotton candy but they called it "candy floss" - that's a new one! She did more to teach them about condensation too. Anyways, the second show is called "In the Night Garden" and it has different goofy characters - Iggle Piggle, Makka Pakka, Upsy Daisy, to name a few. It's more like a Teletubbies type show. Hopefully the first show will inspire her to be some great scientist.

8Sept2008: Day 106: Cycling

I signed up for a cycling class that I took today. I haven't done cycling at the gym in over 4 years so I was a bit hesitant. It went really well. There was only four women taking the class and one guy who taught it. I thought my butt would really hurt as it used to when I took the class previously but it wasn't too bad. I was dripping with sweat when I was done and it the class went by pretty quickly - which I was glad for.

Chris was home today as he'll be working late hours later this week. He helped out while I was at the gym by vacuuming the whole house. It made less work for me, which I appreciated. He then locked himself up in the dining room to work on some stuff for church. Makenna would go around the house yelling "Chris?" every once in a while. She couldn't understand how daddy was home but he was "working". She really enjoyed the time she got to play out in the backyard with daddy as he was cooking dinner.

I wish that I was as upbeat as Makenna when I'm sick. She still has a stuffy, but runny nose but she's in a pretty good mood. She's still testing boundaries. Tonight, she wanted more "sauce" which is A1 sauce, for her steak, and I told her, she still has some on her plate. She then got upset and tipped her whole plate upside down. That got her a time out on the step.

I guess some of the play groups start back up this week as school starts for the kids here. So depending on her mood, and her health, hopefully, we'll get to some groups.

7Sept2008: Day 105:Not Again!

Pretty mundane day. It was rainy and a bit chilly for most of the day. Makenna, unfortunately, has caught another cold. She had hints of it yesterday with a runny but stuffy nose and she sounded a bit stuffed up. I'm sure jumping around in puddles yesterday was not the best idea but she seemed to enjoy it. We have to go out and buy her some "wellies" - boots for the rainy weather here.

So to save other children at church, we decided to keep her home to "rest". I tried putting her down for a nap in the morning, like I usually do on Sundays, but after an hour and a half it was lunch time and she was still up and just reading. So I decided to just get her up and feed her. She still stayed up for almost another 3 hours.

She sure is testing her boundaries, as I keep saying. She keeps climbing up on things and we keep saying "Get Down". She keeps on not listening. So today, she was up on the couch, which is no big deal really compared to the chairs she gets on and starts jumping, and saying "hop, hop". But then she did a face dive onto the floor. She got a bit of a rug burn on her eye. She wasn't too happy but then got right back up onto the couch. Then tonight, she kept climbing up on the couch and leaning on the big hanging mirror on the wall, which then started to move and made me extremely nervous. She wants to practice her cry in the mirror. She loves seeing herself in the mirror and she'll either make whining faces and noises or make some other comment of sorts to see what she looks like when she says it. I think she's trying to perfect her crying techniques to be the most effective in getting her way and the only way to do so is to see what she looks like when she does it. Have to get the most pathetic cry in order to get daddy's sympathy, is what she must think as she's looking into the mirror.

6Sept2008: Day 104: Bodiam Castle and Pancakes!

Ok so, another Castle. This time Bodiam. It is actually quite the picture of what people think Castles should look like with a moat surrounding a large stucture with towers on the corners.

This is a good link for information: http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/castles/bodiam.shtml. It is a very nice castle, however, it's outside is really all that survives. The interior was destroyed likely by parlamentarians when they won the civil war. Apparently, the owner of the castle at the time was a Royalist and sided with the king, but the Parlamentarians lead by Cromwell won and demanded a L9000 fine from the owner so, he had to sell the property to raise the funds. Apparently, the Parlamentarians tore the insides of the castle out such that it could not be used as a house of war again. Either that or some owner along the way took the guts of the castle to make a house for himself.

Makenna enjoyed running around in that castle as its court yard has nice grass. She took to jumping into puddles, which I tried to stop her from doing, but Teri let her when I left to look at part of the castle. She was sopping went from her knees down and she was loving it. Jump, jump, jump! Splash Splash Splash! she kept saying. Her shoes and socks were completely soaked through so we really couldn't do anything more that day as we didn't bring any spare shoes. So we went home.

Makenna was hungry along the way and Teri offered her pancakes, which she accepted. When Teri wasn't quick enough Makenna would yell "pancake" first softly then, slightly louder, then at a full scream for the third time..."pancake", "Pancake". "PANCAKE!". It was so funny. It was in such quick succession that Teri really didn't have any chance of getting her a piece before she was at full scream.

5Sept2008: Day 103: Toys R Us - I'm NOT happy!

It's Chris writing today.

We purchased this gate when we got here for Makenna since we were shipping over our gates from home, but we weren't going to get them for a few weeks. We ended up buying this travel gate at ToysRUs here in Rochester, Kent on the 229. It turns out this gate is a piece of junk. It is called the Bruin flexibarrier and it is made for BabiesRUs in China, of course, where everything is made now. Its problem is the fact that the pressure pads don't stay in the gate, so when it is moved, they all fall out. It was particularly annoying when you are trying to sneak into the babies room and move the thing silently and then all of a sudden one or more of these giant screw and pad things fall out of it and clamor across the floor or goes bounding down the steps. It is obviously a flawed design, there should be some threading in the molding to hold the pressure pad's screw in. I intended to take it back as soon as we had our own gates because of this flaw, but I misplaced the receipt. I should have taken it back anyway, but I thought I needed the receipt and I just wrote it off as something I would sell for $2 at a garage sale one day or just throw out when we leave back for the states.

Anyway, this last weekend I actually found the receipt so we decided to go back to ToysRUs and take it back and also get a potty training seat and step stool for Makenna as she can't reach the sink to wash her hands. So, we go into the ToysRUs and take it to the "customer service" desk and there I am met by a young lady who said she would talk to the manager. Fifteen minutes later I go back to the desk to see what their decision is. They began by telling me that there were missing parts and that they would provide them to me as a courtesy. In fact, the missing parts had nothing to do with the flaw in the design, they were some wall pad parts that are intended to give a cushioning spot on the wall where the pads would push when installed. I had to walk these nose-ringed teenagers through how this would not fix the problem at all and have them tell me that there is no problem because the other one they have does the same thing, which they showed me. The amazing thing was they had to take the "missing parts" from another box, which would only have to be sent back to get repackaged I guess, or they would just sell that unit with missing parts...seemed kind of stupid to me and I told them so. Just take back this one and get it repackaged with the missing parts! No. no...too simple.

So, they told me that since it was such an old purchase (3 months) that they could not refund my money. I pretty much knew that when I took it back, but the fact that these people were trying to tell me there was nothing wrong with the thing really, really, bothered me. I fought with them for quite some time, which is completely a-typical for me, especially when they were right about the refund. I guess I just felt insulted that they were telling me that there was no problem, when clearly there was. I talked with the manager and he just smirked. I told him he lost more money than what that gate was worth here and he just shrugged his shoulders and left. We left about 50 pounds worth of stuff in our cart. The gate was only 22 pounds so, their loss I guess. But, now I'm boycotting ToysRUs out of spite, yes, spite, I'm sorry to be such a sinner, but they really should have just recognized the flaw and taken the product back and given me store credit or something. I'm going to give them one more chance by calling the number in the paperwork that came with the product and see if they have a recall or something. It really is completely unworkable. It is even impossible to get into the doorway without one or two of these things falling out. So Teri was about to throw it across the room a couple of times.

Afterwards we went over to ASDA (Walmart) and bought food and looked for a step stool and potty, neither of which they had; potties, not food...they have plenty of food. We went home and had pizza and salad with croutons we just bought, and of course, their bad. Bad croutons!? How does that happen!? Well they have oil in them and they taste and smell like oil that has sat around for a year. So, I'll hopefully return them before 3 months from now and I hope I don't have to explain how they are bad to a pack of teenagers.

4Sept2008: Day 102: What are YOU doing?

Today was one of those "slow" days in the way of news. I wanted to take Makenna to the play group today but about 10 minutes before we had to leave she started being really cranky. She wanted to watch herself cry and moan in the mirror above the couch. So I decided I wasn't going to take her all that way for her to do her usual complaining for a half hour or more when she's already cranky as it was. I put her down for a nap instead. She slept for just over an hour. I think I made the better decision.

So this afternoon, we just went to the shopping mall and she was very well behaved. I wish she could be this way every time we went out. She was just as good when we went to the same shopping mall later with Chris. It might be because she wanted to "home, home" (drive). Which we let her once we got home.

One thing she did do that was funny was she said, "What you doing?" It just made me think of those beer commercials that they used to have. Then she switched to "What deal?" Plus, "Ooop...Dopped" for Ooops, dropped. I love that she's getting more verbal, but there are still times where she just jabbers away and I have no clue. She's also very friendly. Usually when we're in line at the check-out she'll start saying "hello" to the cashier, and then "bye-bye". I hope she keeps that about her too as she grows.

3Sept2008: Day 101: Let's Not Have That Happen Again!

Some days I think, well, there really won't be much to say in the blog and other days you just don't know where to start.

This morning I thought the only thing I'd have to write about was how cute Makenna was when she was knocking on the bathroom door saying, "Dad, me kemma". Meaning Dad, it's me Makenna. She wanted to see him before he went to work and knew he was in the bathroom getting ready.

But then later in the day....she gave me more to write about. I put her down for a nap at 3:30pm and she was not having it. I had to go up a few times to settle her, and the third time I went up, she had taken her clothes out of her drawer and put some in the garbage in her room but that was not the big thing. She had gone the bathroom, to put it nicely, and had put her hands down her diaper. So I found remnants from her diaper on her shirt, on her pants and on her sheet. It wasn't much really but it was disgusting nonetheless. She has had this habit lately of putting her hands down the back of her diaper, like if it's a pocket for her hands. I've asked her to remove her hands on different occasions, mostly when we're in public. So after changing her, clothes and all, and removing her sheet I put her back down again. She finally fell asleep around 5pm I believe. She wasn't too happy when I had Chris get her up around 6:30pm.

In fact, I was cooking dinner and I all of a sudden heard her crying. So I went in to the living room to see what the matter was. Chris was watching "Prison Break" on the laptop, and it was the part where Michael was reuniting with Sarah, (for those who know the show,) and she thought it was sad. She heard the music and just started bawling. Chris obviously turned the show off fairly quickly but that didn't stop her from crying for almost a half-hour! She was just still very tired, I believe or hungry. It wasn't until we sat down to eat that she finally stopped. Goes to show you, you definitely have to be careful what you're watching around children.

2Sept2008: Day 100: Rain Rain Go Away

Very dark, rainy day until about 4pm. Makenna and I got fairly wet just walking from the car to the gym. It doesn't help when she wants to drive and I'm trying to get her into the car seat and she's doing the stiff rigid body pose in defiance. I obviously won out but was pretty wet in the process.

We went swimming and any more, she just wants to sit on the steps and play around. If she sees other kids bring in swim toys, then she has to have them. She starts screaming if she doesn't get her way. I just re-direct her and tell her to stop screaming. Plus, after about 10 minutes, she wants to get out. That's a lot of energy wasted to get her and myself dressed to swim and then back into our clothes for 10 minutes of swim time. So she doesn't win in that either. I try and stay at least 20 minutes. I do have to say, that some days, it certainly seems the terrible two's have started creeping their way in back at 18 months. Hopefully that means it will end 6 months early. Probably not though.

1Sept2008: Day 99: That's not Daddy

Today the son of the owner of the house came by to take care of the "garden" (lawn). I went out to get the laundry off the line and Makenna stuck her head out and yelled "Chris!?" He looked at me, as his name happens to be Chris and I was laughing. I said, you just happen to have the same name as her father. He asked if she every looks any different as every time he sees her she's always full of smiles and happy. I said, she is always happy to see someone other than me, she sees me all day.

Other than that, the day was the same as most weekdays. After lunch, Makenna looked at me and said "nap?" I wanted to put her down at her request but this was before the owner's son was coming and I was afraid he'd wake her when he came. So she laid down on the floor in the dining room where the sun was coming through the sliding glass doors. I let her lay there for a bit and then she got up and had her second wind, until her usual afternoon nap time.

If we have other children, I can only pray and hope that God blesses us with another child that sleeps as well as she does and not like my one brother's little girl who just doesn't believe in sleep it seems.

31Aug2008: Day 98: Family History

Today at my church, they talked about a new family history website that will be coming out in a few weeks. It sounds really exciting as it takes all these other databases that they currently had and combines them so that when you do a search, you get all the information and you can then edit it. The problem before was that the same information was gathered over and over again, that the past database systems has many duplicates. So you can build your family tree online and because it has some of the information from these databases, it will fill some of it in automatically. This may not happen for everyone unless information was previously submitted to the old databases.

You can also see other people's family tree lines so that if you end up having a common relative somewhere in the tree, you can than e-mail that person and hopefully get more information and/or tell them of corrections and this will all hopefully get rid of the myriad of duplicates. I can attest to some of the duplicates as I found a family member on my mothers side that was listed a few times and he had two wives both who had around 10 children. This just seemed strange to me and I haven't had time to really research it so now I can hopefully see a clearer picture with this new system. Not that he couldn't have had that many children but many of the children have the same name. I was told by someone else that, back then, people were really not too creative in naming their children so the same name would be seen within the family repeatedly. Especially if one of the previous children with that name died. So in this particular family line, you could see three children named Mary. The problem was that it would only give an approximate date of birth and no death date. So like I said, it was a bit strange but it could all be correct.

This new website might be like other sites out there for family history, but one thing that's very different is that it's free! But, you have to be a member of the church to access this new site. I did also hear that the website Ancestry.com was created by church members - which I didn't know. I'm hoping while I'm here to be able to fill in some missing "gaps" from those ancestors that came over from England. Unfortunately, most of them were listed farther North from where we are, but I'm hoping the records will be available in the Family History center at the church.

Makenna is feeling better, but still not eating all that great. I realize they go through eating spurts but it's a little disconcerting when she doesn't eat. Chris BBQ'd some chicken thighs and I peeled the chicken off the bone for Makenna and she wouldn't eat it. Then I offered "sauce" (A1 sauce) and she gobbled it all down. She was quite upset when we didn't have any more chicken to put into sauce. Chris was a bit hesitant about giving Makenna our precious supply of A1, as we only have the one bottle and they don't sell it over here. But I pointed out how she's now eating and that's all I cared about. It's not like we're having steak as often as we used to anyways.