Things that Make Me Smile

I have a cracked tooth, this does NOT make me smile.

The following things do -

My new teapot. Saw something similar at a little teahouse we went to and loved the idea.

My new cake tin! I have wanted one (they all have them here) but kept looking until I found the perfect one, it comes in a set of 3 and the other two have vintage egg and jelly designs. Poor Hadley cries at the tin cause she thinks cupcakes are inside when right now there are just crumpets.

This would be eclair filling - in a bag.

I just loved this tiny candy tin.

Not sure what I will put in it yet, but I had to have it. Aniseed and thyme candy leaves much to be desired in the flavor dept so I will probably be tossing the contents.

Last but not least - my SIL brought over Hadley's Halloween pjs that I had ordered (Halloween isn't as big over here). When I opened the package and Hadley saw them, she wasn't taking no for an answer. She fell asleep a happy girl and it may just have to look like Halloween a little early over here.

PS - How big does she look in this crib??? When did that happen?

England House - Part 2

Heading up the stairs to finish off the tour...

Looking up to our landing.

Notice the blacked out parts at the top of each door, they were windows that I filled with blackout paper. It is not an English thing, but a 70s thing from when the house was built. England is so far north that during the summer it gets light at 4:30 and then dark after 9:30 so it was hard for Hadley to sleep with light shining from everything so we fixed it pretty soon after we moved in.

Hadley's Room

It is still one of my favorite rooms in the house, although a little dark now bc it has double blackout for the light. In the winter we will just use the shade. Her room is considered a single room. Not all rooms will fit a Queen (or called a double over here) so when you look at places you have to double check how many rooms are full sized. We have two double rooms and two single rooms. It works out great for us bc she doesn't need a full room and we use the other room as an office.

Guest Room

View from the window! There is a little apple tree in the front courtyard, it is for cooking apples but I love that I feel I "grew something" even though I did nothing but harvest them! There used to be a tiny bird that would tap on the windows and built a nest, it appears to have moved on though.

EY gave us an allotment for new furniture that we would need on the rotation, this is how we got them to pay for our guest bed and dresser! It was an entirely new experience purchasing a bed over here, I kept hearing to order it online from Englanders. So I did my research and found a place, luckily I tried calling to ask about one of the details and couldn't get ahold of anyone - turns out from reviews it was some kind of shady company! I ended up going with another that rated really well and we were really happy when a bed arrived 2 days later! I didn't recognize the brands and after spending a month on basically a large cotton puff in corporate housing we realized their mattresses are ranked differently. They prefer a really soft mattress, so we went with a Sealy (only brand I knew) and this one was compared to sleeping on the floor and "extremely hard". It was perfect, it is all in perspective I guess! We will take the bed back with us, I have high hopes Hadley will be willing to sleep in it at some point and we will get to keep our free bed.

Also I have to add that this blue wall was one of the things we hoped to fix, the landlord had a teenage boy and the walls and closet were painted dark navy. It doesn't go with anything in the room, but we figure it is good enough and our guests haven't complained yet!

Bathroom

The half shower door, we were going to put a shower curtain up but it really shrunk the room so we just live with a slightly wet floor - and I still don't get it.

LOVE the towel warmer, and also love the hot water. Since the water is used in the radiators the settings are a lot higher than in the states, you have to be careful not to burn the baby but I love the toasty showers!
One thing you will not see in bathroom is electrical outlets, the voltage is higher and therefore more dangerous so they do not allow them in the bathroom where they could get wet. Because of this some bathrooms don't even have mirrors! We had to use Ikea ones that just stuck to the tiles in this bathroom cause it was just too weird. Also the cold and hot water taps are separate - and the hot is super hot and the cold is super cold so you fill your hands with a little of both when you wash your face - it requires skill. Also no toilet paper roll holder in any of our bathrooms, or others I have seen, so we bought this free standing thing, you can't see it but it holds 3 spares in the bottom which is kinda nice.

Our bedroom

Not a huge room but this is the other double room, and this is our closet. Nope, no doors but we were just excited it had something resembling a closet since we were warned they are not common - and it is true, quite a few people use wardrobes and in the entire house we only have 4 closets total. Gotta love the fuchsia accents!

When we first moved in our box spring did not fit in the house and had to be sent back to the states (our couches fit with 1/4 inch clearance!). The furniture is designed a little different here, it either breaks down or comes in parts since the tight quarters/turns in most of the homes. Ikea style is pretty common and if you do have overstuffed couches the legs/backs and sides detach. We ended up getting something called a divan for our bed online - it came in two solid parts and then you hooked them together and the mattress sits on it, EY paid for it too but the box spring is a little more comfortable so I don't know what we will end up doing with it. We had to get king size to fit our queen mattress since the double is just a little too small.

Extra room/Office

Since there are no outlets, this is where I get ready. Actually kind of nice since I always find blowing my hair dry (the 3 times a year I do it) to get really hot in bathrooms, it also lets both of us get ready at the same time.

We have a car shed (I am sure there is a term for it) but it is exposed so we don't really keep anything outside (or the car for that matter, it basically only fits the garbage cans), so all of our extra baby stuff and Jamie's golf clubs live here. I also just added the changing table a few weeks ago. I will put a few other things on the wall (Mom is making a quilt and a diaper hanger, picked out the material in TX and I am so excited! and even more thrilled my Mom was willing to sew it) I will keep the newest addition in a bassinet in our room and wanted somewhere to change her that wasn't in Hadley's room. We have guests and trips planned and since I am aware that this time around that I am useless the last few weeks I am trying to steadily get stuff ready.

Alright, if you are still reading, this concludes our tour! We have found some things inconvenient and some things preferable to what we had in the states, but it has been interesting to experience something new and it does feel like home which is the most important part. I would say you are free to come see it in person...but we are booked until November and unless you want to spend time with a hugely pregnant lady or hold a newborn you might just want to just enjoy the pictures. Unless you are my mom, then I expect to see you on Nov 30th and will have crumpets waiting.

England House - The Good Enough Edition

After living here for almost a year (!) I finally decided to post pics of our house! I had people who wanted to see how we lived, but we had so many ideas of what we wanted to do with the house and I am finally realizing - good enough is good enough. When we rented in the US, the walls were always newly painted and walls patched...well over here things are different, we had holes and dirty paint but we decided we would rather go sight seeing than repaint the inside of a house we do not own. Also I have never loved to decorate, and with prices and new stores I have found a few things I like, but again would rather spend the cash traveling than decorating a house we will be leaving soon. It is starting to feel like home though and we have loved our time together as a family here.

When we went with the realtor (you can't just look up craigslist, you have to go through a real estate agent) there was only one place that fit our price range, number of rooms and proximity to town. It made the decision easy and we were so glad there was at least one to choose from since we only had that one day to locate a house! It has actually been great for what we need right now.

Entrance Gate

Front Door (cute model not included)

Mud Room

Quite a few homes have these, they are not heated or insulated but kind of break up the house from the outside and give you a place to leave your wet/cold clothes and shoes. It is really popular to not wear shoes in homes (we do, not my carpet) but I have to check myself when I go out bc I have worn weird socks to more than one place.

Mud Room (looking back at the door)

Washroom

One of our lifelong dreams is to have two bathrooms, at least in this house we do have two toilets! The owner added this tiny room off the mudroom as an addition. If you noticed, the exhaust from the dryer is just hung on the wall - the owner told us to turn on the fan in the room when we turn on the dryer. We were lucky there was even a dryer! Most houses don't have them or if they do they are condensers and don't work very well. I have been told that most people just line dry, what I haven't gotten is a clear answer on is how you dry your clothes when it is consistently raining (although we do hear most people don't do laundry as often as Americans). The washer and dryer fit about half of what I could do in the states.

You can also see my stash of water, the water here is extremely hard - as in forms-rock-formations-on-my-sink hard. I am generally not picky about my water but after trying to suck it up for a month I gave in and we drink bottled water - I just couldn't handle a dry feeling in my mouth after a glass of water! I did draw the line when a hairdresser suggested washing my hair in bottled water, but it is shocking how it changes the texture. We also found cleaning agents that help with the buildup when our American ones were not cutting it.

Kitchen

Kitchen

We totally scored on our kitchen - the landlord had not been planning on moving and had just upgraded it for herself a few months before we moved in. Using a gas stove is divine. I have a family rule that we always upgrade when we move (not much, just never downgrade!) but I have a feeling I am going to have to give up my stove requirements when we move back to CA. I am now violently opposed to white tile and lacquered cupboards with kids, they are impossible to keep clean!

Kitchen

This would be our fridge and freezer, the top one is the fridge (you can't tell, but doesn't go up to the top) it is a lot smaller than the US and about half as deep, the freezer has 3 small drawers. It has taken me awhile to adjust our shopping and eating to less storage. Things really do go bad faster here, in some ways you can work around it but in others it just isn't as convenient (think hamburger buns lasting 2 days). Luckily we like walking into town so we do a big shop once a week and then grab small things while we are out or make things from scratch. I do know girls that shop almost every day, I found that to be a bit expensive! I do think the breadbox is cute though.

Kitchen

While white tile may not be kid friendly, having a door on the kitchen is awesome. Also the oven has a gas lock on it (I don't know if every one has this) but it is great knowing we aren't going to blow up if she gets to it. Oh, and there is a freezer in the corner - when I realized we would be having a baby over here I broke down and bought one so I can prep freezer meals and store more than one bag of frozen chicken and a bag of strawberries.

Front Room

I think I have already posted about this room - it is large, which is rare out here, and it has saved our sanity with it being rainy outside so often. Also the windows are great to let in at least some light even on a gloomy day.

Front Room

Huge radiators everywhere, I love them in the winter time.

Front Room - Hadley's Corner

Front Hallway

I will do the upstairs in another post, this one has already lasted too long! And no, we have no idea why there is an elaborate curtain rod above the entrance.

First Bubble Bath

Hadley typically loves all water so I was excited to add a little Mr Bubbles - but I will let the pictures speak for her feelings on her first bubble bath!

Safe at Last!!

Looks like we will wait a bit until we try bubbles again!

Our Trip to the USA!

We headed to the US for an entire month and packed it full with fun activities, family, friends and trips! I am too jet lagged to do multiple posts, so it will just be this one massive post with too many pictures!

Hadley did great on the flights and adjusted pretty well with the time zones on both ends - wish I could say the same thing for the jumping bean in my stomach. We must have messed up her schedule and she is responding by high kicking nonstop! (and yes, still a she - we had them double check at the 21 week appt since the last one was so early)

We kicked off the vacation in Austin by trying out the sprinklers...

Grandpa's new swing...

Checked out the local park just across the street...

And being thoroughly spoiled by Grandma! She was in heaven with Tutus, multiple purses, phones and all sorts of new toys!

After a few days in Austin, I headed out to CA for a girls weekend, leaving Hadley with Jamie and Grandma. I was worried she would miss me since I have only left her for a few hours at a time but I was sent the following pictures -

Cookies and balloons at the grocery store...

Loving the bounce house...

Checking out the swimming pool...

So I think she did just fine without me! I had a blast with the girls (no pics), basically ate my way through CA and excited that we will be returning after we are done here.

A few days later my sister and her husband came to visit and we had a mini "reunion" since we were all in town!

We cooled off in Lake Austin...

Learned the art of just lounging...

Tried to protect our delicate skin...

Hadley actually came back with a decent tan and a bit blonder...I unfortunately remained the same hue and am happy to be back where I am the national skin tone.

Had a great time with Minute to Win It - I am shockingly good at getting an Oreo from my forehead to my mouth, I am seeing party tricks in my future. Also played this hilarious lego game and Word on the Street, never heard of them before but might be our new favorites!

Even fit in a family photo (my mother graciously placed the preggo lady behind everyone)

After the Mockler fun, we drove out to Dallas for the Teuscher family reunion. I love seeing all of the family, there are 33 of us total! We must have been having too much fun cause we only walked away with a few pictures!

Enjoying the baseball game...

Hadley followed her older cousin around the whole time, Blake is just 6 mos older and it was so fun to see her with another kid her age! (and this is the best pic I walked away with, berg!)

They did these darling shirts for the family that were numbered as to when you entered the family - Jamie was #8, I was #27 and Hadley was #33, the youngest and if all goes well we will add #34 in December!

We spent our last week taking it easy and soaking in the attention. I also stocked up on baby clothes, clothes for Hadley, American food and other toiletries that we have missed (they don't have antiperspirant over here!! and of course my beloved antibac soap from Bath and Body Works) During the month we also fit in Dr appt (complete with shots and paperwork for the new baby), Dentist, Hair appts and anything else I could think of!

Loving having Dad around all day, every day for a month (I loved it too, combined with Grandma during the day I got tons done, took naps and my hair finally looked done most of the time!)

Grandpa would come home and Hadley commanded all attention, she learned to really throw the ball, build blocks and use her baby blues to get all sorts of treats. She got a bite of ice cream almost every night and I kept catching him smuggling her all sorts of goodies.

She loved the walks they would go on and is not thrilled to be home with just Mom to pay attention to her!

We flew back and I only had a few tears in the airport.

It was such a wonderful vacation and I just wish we could stay longer or live a little closer! We piled on the airplane with 4 checked bags (all at 50 lbs exactly) 2 stuffed carry ons, 1 backpack, 1 diaper bag, 1 large carseat and a stroller. We were so happy to have the flight over!