Nothing was Stirring, Not Even....

...oh wait!! THERE IS A MOUSE IN MY HOUSE!! And it was definitely stirring. It started the first week of November, I went to go get my purse to head into London for a drs appt (used rarely since I am always carting a diaper bag around) and when I opened it the granola bar was shredded and I realized it looked like dropping in the bottom! I was really grossed out, but not overly concerned since it was in the mudroom. We have kind of a locked off area that is not heated where we store our coats/tools/Costco goods that is pretty much separated from the rest of the house. I closed the purse up, put it back on the hook (droppings and all) and decided Jamie would take care of it. Fast forward a week and Jamie had been working super long hours and I finally went to investigate how bad the problem was (in my head I was hoping one lone mouse found the granola bar and then got outta there). I grabbed a pair of tongs and emptied out the closet and found that it had chewed on and nested in part of my Ergo!! I shed a few tears, yelled at the mouse and put it in the large pile of stuff to sanitize and wash! I went through all the other closets and there were some faint signs but overall it looked like just a small infestation.

I called the landlord and laid it on thick, a baby was coming and their were mice that needed to go. She immediately asked if they were across from the door cause she had "seen holes there before" WHAT??? Why wouldn't you fill them when you saw them? Her solution was to send over her boyfriend with a can of foam and a bottle of peppermint oil. While I watched him fill the holes he assured me that mice were perfectly normal, why, he had a family living in his dashboard that squeaked at him while he drove around town. It was all very comforting.

Just a few days later I was up at 5:50 with Hadley (she sometimes wakes up early and I am in the ironic part of pregnancy where you don't sleep but are painfully aware there is a baby coming that isn't going to let you sleep either!) I went into my kitchen and thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and assumed I was just crazy. I looked back a second later and saw a mouse scurry across the back of the wall and toward the stove. I did the logical thing and launched my 9 mos pregnant self up onto the counter and screamed, haven't moved that fast in months. Jamie came down and we couldn't find the mouse anywhere, but now knew that they had made it into the main portion of the house. I rarely cry in pregnancy but it had been one of those weeks and it was the second time the darn mice reduced me to tears.

Jamie decided he was going to trap it. He used his boy scout training to rig this beauty from items around the house -

We did find evidence that the mouse had been their that night, the peanut butter was nibbled on, but the weight was a bit off so Jamie was determined to try again.

The landlord was called on Sunday where I told her I wanted a professional and gave her an exact countdown to my due date. The exterminator arrived the next afternoon, I expected him to look at the evidence and check out the house, I wanted to know if the mice had made it upstairs of if I was looking at a large nest. He set a few traps, listened to me and that was about it, not super useful. He thought they would stay near the food in the kitchen, with a toddler and the inability to bend I am pretty sure I could feed all of the mice in England on my floor so I am hoping they haven't ventured further. He also set out some bait and said they would take it back to the nest, but at the same time he told me we probably sealed the exits off when we filled in the holes...I put two and two together and realized I might have dead mice hanging out in random places!! I expressed my concern and he assured me that they "dried up quick" and "just put some smelly stuff in the area" to counteract the rotting bodies that could be in the wall. Awesome. He will be back in 10 days to check the traps and take a look. In the meantime I had him show me how to empty the traps since if I knew there were dead mice sitting there I wanted them gone ASAP!

We caught two the next morning, I didn't touch them -

He looks way too happy for a guy that just found a dead mouse.

It has been two more days and no more mice (Jamie's trap I am sure would have worked, looks like they just hit the smaller traps first). My fingers are crossed that is all we will see of them and by Christmas (well, long before then) there really will be nothing stirring in our house but a new baby!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend or It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

They obviously don't celebrate Thanksgiving here so we were left trying to decide what we wanted to do this year. Jamie decided to work from home since it was just too weird for him to be in the office and I booked our last OB appt so we could all go together. We then thought his coworker was hosting Thanksgiving like she did last year, after going back and forth she finally decided it was too much hassle. I have done our own Thanksgiving before and had no intention of doing a full spread just for us (also birds are like 60-90 dollars!) so my next option was to just go out to a nice dinner in Reading. I kept feeling worse and worse so by the end of the night it had deteriorated to dinner down the street...and then a phone call to Dominos!! Not exactly what we had in mind, but one to definitely remember! We had a great time talking to family over Skype - Jamie's was in Arizona and mine in Texas. You better believe we will be packing a tasty bird away next year though! We spend the rest of the weekend getting ready for Christmas and just enjoying our little family, I think Jamie and I are both aware how much we have enjoyed this time with Hadley.

After falling for the hype of "Christmas Common" which ended up being more of a "warehouse with some lights", Jamie found a nursery just down the street and they had some beautiful trees. After being cooped up all week Hadley was thrilled to have Jamie run through the trees with her while I picked the perfect one. She was so happy to be out that we stopped by the park on the way home, she had such a blast with her dad - dads are always more fun! We would say "whee" while we were on the swings with her, and when she got off she cried for more "wee" and has ever since!

Helping Dad get set up

Star on top of the tree, I always put the star on the tree every year and it was sweet for me to see her be able to for the first time.

Took a few attempts

...but we got it

That Sunday I put Hadley in her Christmas Dress! With the baby coming I probably won't make it to church for the next few weeks (a point of contention with the British, whenever I mention I will be keeping the baby home for 4-6 weeks since it is the height of RSV season I get comments....and then normally followed by them telling me that their newborn got bronchitis or whooping cough which just increases my resolve). I really wanted to see her in it so we dressed her up a bit early, and does anyone else have problems getting Sunday pics? She has the prettiest dresses, my Mom clears out the Dillards sale in the off season and Hadley always looks so cute! It is hectic before church and nap time meltdowns after I have so few pictures of her dressed up!!

Pardon the stink face from the first pic, I wanted the whole dress, she looks a bit happier here!

And finally the completed tree, after a few days. We figured out pretty fast that decorating with a Toddler becomes more of a game of keep-away, and she is a lot taller than we thought! So the bottom is filled with snowflakes and bells that she takes on and off and all the nice ones have moved to the top 2-3 branches!

Packages are all wrapped, stockings are hung and we are ready for Christmas and our new December babe!

Father Christmas

Last year we were still settling in when it came time for find Santa, we struggled and finally located a very sad admin at EY that threw on a red coat for a work activity. This year we planned ahead and asked around, turns out you can't find Santa at malls and large stores, they are at garden nurseries!

We had decided last year that we would try to go to Harrods to meet Father Christmas. Jamie did his research and figured out that you had to register way in advance, so in August he applied for the membership (we were bottom tier since we don't drop 10,000 a year there!) and then in September we got preferred booking. At 8am I got the email that I could register, I went online immediately and the system was already crashing from overload. The latest weekend (closest to Christmas) that was still open was the 12th of November, all of December was already booked. It worked out well for us since I had wanted to do it in November, but I was shocked! So we booked the slot and paid a 10 pound processing fee, you needed to bring your ticket and not be a minute late to make your appointment. I am happy to say it was worth it, we had a great time heading into London and meeting Father Christmas, they really went all out!

You entered into a Candy Land themed area to wait to be ushered into a room with just Father Christmas, so nice not to have a hectic line while trying to get a picture. Hadley loved the colors and decorations (and can someone remind me next time to not aim my pregnant backside toward the camera?)

Some of the characters were a bit creepy and kind of in your face, Hadley was not sure how she felt about the Gingerbread Girl.

We tried a few times, she wasn't buying it.

Father Christmas chatted with Hadley for a minute and then suggested a family photo so she could sit on my lap, she wasn't quite sure what to think of him. They took 3 pictures and you could purchase them at the front, we picked the one where she was kind of looking at the camera and for 15 pounds we had ourselves a picture!

Santa gave her a gold coin, a little christmas book and a button, we have absolutely no idea how she figured that the inside of the gold foil had something edible inside, but by the time we exited the room it had bite marks on it.

Our appt was right in the middle of the day and I had really wanted to go to lunch in Harrods. The only place I had seen at our last visit was this fancy restaurant that I knew would not be ideal with a toddler. We spotted this family cafe right by the toy section and it was perfect, the food was really good with a decent kids menu and it was filled with other families.

Hadley loved the crayons and spent a good portion of time putting them in and out of the cup when she wasn't coloring.

After lunch we wandered around the toy section and Hadley ended up finding a bear that she attached to and would barely let me pay for! We also picked up one for the newest addition as a Christmas gift and a few english inspired ornaments (miniature phone booth, bus, little harrods bag and delivery truck). We wandered through the children's clothing section and played "guess how much it costs" for awhile, we were typically about 200 pounds off on everything! We couldn't leave without a quick stop in the food department, it is so gorgeous. We tried a few cupcakes (still haven't found cupcakes that come close to the ones in the US) and I enjoyed a passionfruit marshmallow. They decorate for the holidays and it was a great way to start the season.

We then decided to make one last stop since we were already in London and headed over to the M&M world - we ended up being disappointed. We didn't even take pictures, there were hardly any M&Ms!! It was all merchandise and I was sad to leave without any Peanut Butter M&Ms (you can hardly find anything but plain here). We took the tube back to the train and headed home. Not sure when we will make it back into London, but we had such a wonderful time as a family!

3 Weeks

Some people make the end of pregnancy look good, I make it look like it got hit in the face and run over by a truck. Regardless of how very excited I am (even though it is the second time around, I still can't get over how we will have a person that fits all of the teeny, tiny clothes I recently washed!!) my body thinks it is fun to "practice" with contractions and Braxton Hicks basically nonstop. Wondering if there is anyway possible to send a memo to the body that we are having a c -section, it doesn't need to do anything but show up on the 2nd? Since I didn't go into labor until my due date with Hadley and the same thing happened the first time, my dr isn't worried - just told me to "take it easy". I think he forgot I have an energetic 2 ft tall person that lives in my house and cannot get anywhere without walking. Today we did decide to take a day off, but don't worry, Hadley is being well taken care of ...

No idea how to make phone pics bigger, too lazy to look it up.

Where is Hadley?

In the laundry bag! (don't worry, she took all the clean socks out to make room)

Can you bring me a drink?

Cuddle Bug

She came with me to the RS meeting last night I was in charge of and was up late (Jamie has been working until the wee hours of the morn, poor guy) so I think she is ok with a down day as well. She has just been watching her Mickey, bringing me books and coloring (her new skill and keeps trying to trace her own hand after making hand turkeys the other day, seriously cute). She is so very good. We are excited to add another one - I know it is more than worth it and I cannot wait! Hadley has started pointing to my stomach and saying "baby!", I have no idea if she understands but I am hoping she is as excited when the baby decides to actually arrive!

We will spend the rest of the day in jammies and take a nap - if we are feeling really ambitious I might make cookies from a box, I knew there was a reason I hauled a box back from the states. Grandma arrives in a little under 3 weeks, I may or may not have a paper chain counting down...

Family Pictures 2011

In July we were able to take family photos while in Austin and I finally picked the files I wanted! We loved our photographer, it was 100+ degrees and after bedtime and she was still able to get some great shots of Hadley! The photo style is different in the UK, a bit more formal and often in studio, so I had to wait until we were back in the states. I really wanted a few pictures of just our family of 3 before we become one of 4 in December and we love how they turned out - even if in our favorite shots Hadley is a bit sticky!

One of the things I requested was that they capture Hadley's baby blues - she has the most beautiful eyes and I never seem to do them justice.

The Two Hot Redheads Come to Visit!

A few days after we returned from France we had two sassy redheads come for a visit! I have mentioned before that I am not sure what Hadley is going to do when she realizes that in our "normal" life we don't travel to different countries and have fun guests every few weeks!

Stephanie and I have been friends since high school and was the only non relative to take me up on my offer of a free place to stay in England. She came with Tara who got her Masters in Reading a few years ago and knew all of the good sights to check out - and they went flat out the entire time. It was so fun for me because we would see them in the morning, Hadley loved greeting them coming down the stairs -

Tara is like the Toddler Whisperer, Hadley just adored her!

And then they would return later at night after a full day and tell me of their travels so I could live through them and stay up having girl chat, I have missed having close girlfriends over here!

They really did see everything! Started in Paris, found the cutest vintage jewelry and then went all over London.

Checking out the Phone Booth

I love that Stephanie found a Fascinator! These girls know how to shop, they found the cutest things.

Heading off to Hogwarts

They visited most of the typical sights, squeezed in a few unusual sights and headed up to Cornwall as well, my feet hurt just hearing about all of their adventures! We were so sad to see them go, thanks for visiting us across the pond girls!

French Riviera, Day 3

The next day we headed over to check out Jamie's passion - Money! He loves having it, moving it, accounting for it, spending it and saving it - so it was perfect to head over to Monaco! Apparently they have the highest per capita income in the world and the whole country is extravagant with high end stores and amazing cars.

In front of the main casino

The grounds in the main square were gorgeous, with cafes and immaculately dressed people everywhere.

Not sure what cars these are, but Jamie was impressed

She seemed to approve

Headed back for more beach time

We were so sad it was our last day!

Jamie and I love the beach and ocean and we loved seeing her enjoy it.

Down time while we packed up

The next morning we got up and grabbed our last pastries and drove back to the airport. After traveling so much in last few weeks we were all pretty tired but had a wonderful time!

French Riviera, Day 2

Jamie originally was the one to suggest the French Riviera, and although I was interested, it was the proximity to Grasse that sold me. Grasse is the top perfumery location in the world, it houses most of the big names (or used to, they all have stores/museums there but some of the manufacturing has been moved) and France is known for having the best and most "noses" in the business. I can't remember if I ever mentioned it on the blog, but when I was in college and completing my Chemistry Degree I realized my Junior year that I would need either a specialty or further education (bachelors tended to be lab rats and I wanted to design the experiments) and I started looking into becoming a flavor chemist, it was my first choice. After a bit of research it takes a PhD program and then 7 year apprenticeship until you can practice!! So I went with the Food Science minor that took an extra semester and ended up loving Product Development, but always enjoyed talking to the flavor chemists and found them so interesting.

We took a trip to the International Perfumery Museum.

They had samples of the plants they used, this is a vanilla plant with a bean. They used to have fields of Lavendar and many of the raw materials in the area.

They had some cute interactive kid exhibits where you could smell the different scents, she liked the strawberry but did not like the licorice.

This was one of my favorite areas, after they walked you through the history and raw materials - they let you see the distillery process and science. This part of the museum left such an impression on me (this is a tangent but I wanted to make sure I wrote it down to remind myself). I have found since I have switched jobs that sometimes I look around and think to myself - I don't make my own repurposed clothes, paint cute and funky furniture, throw massively creative parties and I barely know how to use my camera... I even find myself thinking while browsing Pintrest "Can't I just buy that at Target?" and "That is cute but where would I store it after the party?". My mother is extremely talented and creative (she has a degree in Art and Watercolor) so the basics have rubbed off a bit, and it isn't to say I don't enjoy sewing or making Hadley's bows from time to time - but I wouldn't claim it as a talent or a passion. But I walked into the room with the GC Mass Spectrometer and lab benches filled with pipettes, beakers and test tubes and I couldn't help but smile. I felt at home, I was so excited. I realized I had just forgotten that we all have talents/interests, just sometimes they may not be in use and go in and out of season during out lives. I wouldn't trade being home with Hadley for anything, but I think I will give myself a little bit more permission to not make amazing home decorations and plan on being the Mom that is more excited about the Science Fair that her kids.

View overlooking Grasse

We then stopped by the Mattise Museum, just like the Picasso it was an exhibit that showed the progression of the artist. He is known for evoking form with just a line, and he had some works where you could see he did the detailed sketch and then went over it trying out different lines to get the same effect. They had a huge area where he did his final work, although to be honest it looked a bit like construction paper cut out by kids, so I didn't quite catch the vision, but it was very interesting. They told us that many of the well known artists would come down to the Riviera to retire and get back to basics, I can understand with the amazing scenery and weather!

This was one of my favorite parts of the day - the bakery!! We tried out a few and found an amazing one just up the street. We would go in the morning to get breakfast - eating a warm baguette smothered with fresh butter and apricot jam with a cold Orangina on the beach is just absolute perfection. And then in the afternoon we would return and get dessert for the evening, so delicious. There were little sandwich shops up and down the beaches so we tended to have sandwiches for lunch and dinner (everywhere uses fresh bread and really good cheese) and it was heavenly. We figured we saved money, ate extremely well and we would just eat food with nutritional value when we returned back home!

French Riviera

We flew into Nice and then drove over to Antibes for a 3-4 day weekend. We lucked out with our hotel, it was across the street from the water and a short walk to the free public beaches. I typically do a ton of research before booking, but the hotels were selling out as I was searching even though it was off season! So I picked one that looked pretty good and was in the smaller town Antibes and we loved it. We can't quite manage an entire day on the beach so we picked a few small day trips and then spent the rest of the day playing in the sand and water - the weather was sunny, warm and perfect.

Our first day we started off at Cannes, just to say we went and also to window shop the high end stores!

Picture of the private beaches, in Cannes most of the beaches are private and you pay for the space, chair and normally a towel.

I keep repeating myself, but France is beautiful

They had a red carpet out in one of the eating areas that is used when the Festival is in season, Hadley and I just had to walk it - cause nothing says glamour like a stroller and a large pregnant lady.

They had candy sculptures with different flags all over town.

Beach time was Hadley's favorite

Love little tummys in swimsuits

She was fascinated by the sand and the birdies

We would stay and play in the sun until bedtime and then go shower off the sand, sleep soundly and head back out the next day.