June 29

Well boys and girls. Last night we got our first child free sleep since June 1! Yes, almost a month and it sure was nice to not have to share the bed with a child! Ok, Michael still counts as a child but that is only because he is whiney! So, bringing you up to speed. We ordered beds for the girls from Mothercare on Michael's new mastercard! How exciting... a 10 plus day wait to have the items delivered. Every day I dutifully checked on the order status because there were some concerns about using the new credit card. 4 days into the wait I thought we were doing pretty well and so I figured, hey, lets just check and see if they are going to give us a narrower delivery date other than the "10 days". Well low and behold I look at our order and it is all cancelled. For what reason? I have no idea. Did they mention it in the form of email or anything? NOPE!! So, I didn't panic, but went to the mothercare site and saw that there is a store about 1 mile from us. No car, no idea how to get to it I went over to our neighbours Chris and Phil. They had offered to help us pick up a bed for Michael and myself knowing our things were still in Canada. So, I went over to ask Phil if he wouldn't mind driving me there whenever was convenient. I was hoping that he'd be able to give us a lift sometime this weekend so that we all wouldn't ahve to sleep on the floor. Phil, we will now refer to him as "godsend" said, let me finish my dinner and I'll take you there straight away. So, because nothing goes easy I thought. I better phone the store and put stuff aside so that a)Phil doesn't have to stand around waiting for some nutty canuck to shop and b)to make sure they have what I need in stock. So, I phoned up and a lovely girl said that they had all of my major needs and collected them up and held them for me. Not half an hour later Michael and I were setting up the girls beds! Phil and Chris and their daughter Tarnyia have been so helpful and kind to us. The downside to helping us find beds for the girls was that they both screamed for at least an hour each. Yes, Maeve cried and cried and cried but finally passed out after I laid with her and then Michael as well. Madigan is a little more stubborn and she screamed for what seemed like eternity. Seems like someone has gotten quite use to snuggling with her mother all night! This just in people, I need some sleep! So, in the pics you can see our stubborn little Madigan sleeping almost nudie because her pjs were enraging her further! Tonight I stayed in the room and talked her down to sleep. I'm expecting to do a little less each night until she is going to bed solo! Hopefully it happens tonight will be less traumatic for everytone!! I remember when Maeve was the same way and we were getting her out of our bed and into her own. Eventually we did get Madigan to lay down and sleep in a more comfortable position! Maeve too fell asleep sitting up, refusing to lay down in her crib. My girls are such strong, stubborn, beautiful individuals.

tuesday

For some strange reason my last post didn't get posted here. I even had it twice. Maybe I'm going slowly mad!! Anyway, Mom I am so sorry that I forgot your birthday. Why don't you fly on over and I can make it up to you! Aunti Barbie, I'm sorry I missed your birthday too. I am such a cad. I have no excuse. I'm just really very sorry.

Some pics of the girls today. Playing in the curtains. Crawling like little demons. I love my daughters. I don't want to think about when they will forget my birthday! Today we are patiently awaiting an ARGOS delivery. We are also awaiting delivery of one cot and one cot bed for our big girl. Hopefully they arrive soon so we aren't stuck home all week waiting for them! Anyhoo, have a great day everyone!

British spelling of @sshole

VASHTI


Oh my god Mom, I am so sorry that I forgot your birthday. What a giant Ass. Sorry also to Auntie Barbie as I've also forgotten hers. I hope you two girls had a nice day and I'm so sorry I didn't call or send a card. What a jerk. Why don't you two jump on a plane and come have a bday celebration with us? I can give a thousand excuses but there really isn't a good one for forgetting your own mother's birthday. I love you Mom. I love you too Auntie Barbie!

So, how do the brits spell Asshole?

VASHTI


Oh my god Mom, I am so sorry that I forgot your birthday. What a giant Ass. Sorry also to Auntie Barbie as I've also forgotten hers. I hope you two girls had a nice day and I'm so sorry I didn't call or send a card. What a jerk. Why don't you two jump on a plane and come have a bday celebration with us? I can give a thousand excuses but there really isn't a good one for forgetting your own mother's birthday. I love you Mom. I love you too Auntie Barbie!

Official

Grab your pens because we have an official address for you! For those of you that know someone we love without internet access please feel free to pass it on. As added incentive, any mail received may get a response! hahahahhaah Happy weekending to you all!



20 Packwood Close
Leamington Spa,
Warwickshire, CV31 1FL
United Kingdom

Eagle has landed

Hi kids! Well we've done it. We have successfully manage to enter our new home. Yes, a daunting challenge it was. I'll start out slow because as we have found out. Nothing that comes easy is worth having. So, our letting agent phones us and lets us know that our new home is ready to be moved into! Yay, so we go and pay 2 months deposit plus first month's rent (YIKES basically double it for canadian funds). We figure, hey.. lets move in tonight. When we came to view there was a double bed, 2 wardrobes and couches tv, basically everything. So, they had asked us if there was anything we'd like removed and we said no. If we decide later to take stuff out we'll put it in the garage. So great, we check out of the hotel with no hassle... grab a taxi and load it up with 2 kids, 2 carseats, 4 pieces of luggage, 2 adults and one giant stroller and away we go! We get to our fantastic new castle, put the keys in... hold our breaths in anticipation and hear.....nothing... for whatever reason our brand new keys don't work. So, here we are 8pm standing outside of our gorgeous new home tired, cranky and with all our possessions and locked out. Soooo awesome! Quick thinking Michael opens the garage and gets us all in and out of the howling wind so we can put our heads together. Aha! He sees that going through the garage brings us to the backyard... through the backyard is the sliding glass doors to the living room! Eureka, now if only someone forgot to lock it! haha fat chance sucker! But wait, there is a key hole.. wait more, we have a key that fits it! Lucky for us the english are weird! You can lock your sliding glass door from the inside and the outside! How clever! So we go around to the front door and see that someone has engaged the deadbolt thumb lock and that is why our key didn't work. Oh the joy, the joy! So, cranky mommies, daddies and babies all arrived in their new home safe and sound! Ahh we get all ready to head to bed... YOINKS.. the bed is gone. WEll, the mattress is anyways! I had mentioned to the letting agent that we wont really need it once our things get here.... well lets hope to heaven that it gets here soon... we are currently all sleeping downstairs in the lounge on 1)airmattress 2) patio lounge chair cushion 3) seat cushions from the couch. Seriously... we can never do anything just the 'easy' way can we! We are very happy to be in our new home even if it doesn't have creature comforts! Maeve and I did a little gardening and a lot of rearranging! The woman who lived here strikes me as a bit of a bachelor. Everything is in the most unusual places and she didn't seem to care much for maximizing one's space! So... positive thoughts for our things arriving sooooooon! Well,t he girls will be allright because we are getting them set up this weekend! Poor Michael and I will have aching b acks for weeks!

Terrrrific Tuesday

Hi Gang, sorry I missed you all yesterday. Can't remember why I didn't post. Must have been a really good reason! Hahaha ok I know why, it is because the girls and I were out all day. WAnt the reason why? Well here it is wanted or not. Michael the awesome driver he is, popped a hole in the tire of our stroller whilst strolling/slaloming with Maeve in it! Maeve of course had the time of her life but monday morning rolls around and I have 2 children NO stroller! Well, first we thought it just needed some air! Well after our hotel staff located an air pump and gave us a boost of air we were off. Well, we were off for like a block. So, with Maeve on my back in the backpack and Madigan in the stroller because she was lightest we were off in search of a b ike shop. What luck, we found one on bedford street. (Neil tipped us off earlier) but fortunately for me bedford street is only about a 10 minute walk from here. So, I ask how much it will be and how long it will be. 10 quid and 30 minutes. I say great and take the girls to the pub for lunch (another long story to be updated later) so we had lunch and I went to pick up the stroller but wait.... where is the money? Oh Vashti you silly girl. You thought you had 20 pounds but really you only had 10! so, with back pack, madigan in the carrier and Maeve we had to do the 10 min hike back to the hotel to get money and then back to the bike shop to get the stroller. The whole time Maeve is crying asking me to carry her. I have never felt like such a pack horse in my life! I feel like a cow because I nurse Madigan all day and all night, I feel like a packhorse... wonder which barnyard animal I'll feel like tomorrow!!! hahaha I'm just goofing around, I am really have a great time here so far. Maeve is working on her "Mummy" in perfect british. I guess she hears the other children on the playground and is trying to imitate. I can't believe we've been here less than 2 weeks and she is already polishing up her british! Now I have to pick it up a bit too otherwise people here have no clue what I am talking about. For instance, if I would like a Mocha... I have to very politely ask for a Mawkka. I now refer to our stroller as a push chair and we always call the elevator the lift now. Its not like I'm trying to be british or anything, its just that if you want someone to comprehend what you are talking about you must do your best to speak it the way they hear it! Ok, I've reread and it sounds like I'm off on a tangent! Here are some pictures for you from this weekend. Auntie Neil and Maeve.. and princess Maeve. She was so good getting her face painted for the first time. She chose the pattern herself because she thought it was very princess! I think so too@!!

Happy Father's Day

Hello everyone! We are doing very well here in Leamington. This weekend we took part in the annual Leamington Peace Festival. There was tie dye as far as the eye could see! It was smokin' hot let me tell you! We had a really nice day on saturday and for fathers' day sunday we took a trip to Warwick Castle. Madigan and Maeve got Daddy a suhweet pair of kicks (sneakers) and we headed out this am to the bus stop to meet up with Neil. We will now refer to Neil as Auntie Neil! That is what Maeve calls him. I'm very sorry to say that Maeve is fickle in her love and Auntie Neil is filling in some rather big shoes! So, the castle was great fun. There was an archery display, a falconer and a totally wickid trebuchet! We took quite a few hours wandering around the grounds, climbing up stairs and just basically hanging out at the Castle! We met a lovely peasant girl from Calgary and had an awesome dinner at the Tilted Wig. Well, Michael and Neil were absolutely in LOVE with our waitress who gave us all a fantastic view of her.... assets! Fortunately for me the barman looked alot like Orlando Bloom so all was fair today! Michael heads back to work tomorrow (boo) and I am on my own with the girls and a flat tire on the stroller. Ok, how much does that suck? hahah oh well, hopefully we get the news tomorrow if we get to move in on wednesday or not! fingers crossed and lots of positive thoughts for us please! Hopefully soon I wont be fighting to get two of these little buggers to nap at the same time on the same day in the same room. Not to mention getting them to bed simultaneously in ONE room! I like to think I'm getting better at not being crabby about things. I mentioned earlier that I was trying to adopt a more Zen attitude and it seems to be working! I only need the strength to change the things that I am capable of changing. If its not in my power I have to let it go! So far so good!

Friday at last!

Well today was rather nice. We went to the library and read some books, Madigan ripped one. Awesome. I had to narc on us. booo. It went over well, they don't mind so long as you bring it to their attention!@ Madigan is on a strict board book only diet from now on! After books we walked up to the shopping center called the Royal Priors. Madigan snoozed while Maeve and I grabbed some lunch. How Madigan manages to thrive on breastmilk alone is a mystery to me. She wont eat rice cereal, she will only eat maybe half a jjar of baby food at a time. She does like regular table food tho, bits of chicken, rice or potatoes... She seems to be growing nicely. We are waiting for our appointment with the National Medical something or other before we can find a Dr. for these two. Fortunately the house we hope to move into come wednesday, is right around the corner from a major children's clinic! Anyhoo, the shopping center has a great family bathroom with Mommy sized and Maeve sized potty, a fantastic nursing room with glider chairs and cold water and lots of great shops. Everywhere we go the girls make great friends.. mostly with old ladies but thats ok, its nice to see my girls brighten someone elses day!

Today wasn't so bad continued

So here we are in our hotel room. Michael heads off for work around 7am. Me and the girls have breakfast downstairs then we make our way back upstairs into the very hot hotel room! Fortunately it isn't as hot today! The last post I said it was 22 was a mistake, it was more 32!!! So here is our darling Madigan. She loves to cruise! Maeve was playing mary had a little lamb in these pics. Just incase you hadn't guessed, Madigan is the little lamb and Maeve is Mary! They are so frigging cute it scares me! Maeve is keeping the general Leamington public in stitches as I walk and she dances through the park. It is about a 10 - 15 minute walk and she dances and frolicks the entire time! Good thing we don't have a schedule to keep to! We would never get anywhere! We are hoping to hear from the letting agent this week to see if we get the place we are looking at. It is only 2 bedrooms but it is fully furnished and it has a...... DISHWASHER!! You all know why I signed on for it! It also has a garage, patio, garden, washing line, washer/dryer combo (rare). For those of you who had seen our vancouver kitchen believe it or not this kitchen is even smaller! The space is used much better though! North american homes are so spacious compared to what we have seen around here! Well, fingers crossed that we get this place and I will post pics asap!

Today wasn't so bad

Here are some lovely pictures of Birmingham and Leamington Spa.

naked again

ok, so michael took maeve to the park tonight while i took madigan up to get her to bed. jeez, daddy love sure is different from mommy love! here is a pic of maeve kicking it in the paddling pool naked as a jaybird splashing some big kids! could he be standing any further away? oh well, they made it home safe and sound!

Leamington pics

Well everyone, here is cindarella's castle. Yes, Maeve tells everyone that this is in fact where cinderella lives! Maeve is doing well, we haven't seen any signs of sleep/toileting regression (knock on wood) Madigan is doing really well too. Altho she hasn't completely given up the notion of only walking now she crawls as well. She is happiest 'cruising'. I wouldn't say I'm trying to hinder her development but I'm certainly not going to push for it either! it is hard enough here with one who is completely upwardly mobile! Shell be walking soon enough I'm sure! Michael is off for his first day of work today. Let me tell you life around the ole sweatbox.. er hotel is alot tougher without Daddy's help. Even if he does stand a bit far off at the pool!! I miss him being with us today! The girls are napping right now and have been for a while. I snuck a nap in myself!! But, I should go wake them and head out to the park that is just behind us past the lawn bowlers!

the eagle has landed

Hi everyone! We made it. We are safely in England. Leamington Spa to be exact. It is a wonderful little town. Very quaint, very green and seems really nice. Hopefully Michael and I will drop some serious poundage due to a)hot weather b) hauling around two lumps of cranky or c) walking around carrying one of said lumps since we don't have a car! The flight was uneventful. Well not really but too much to type about anyway! The trip from London to Leamington was longer than expected but really nice! The hotel we are staying in is HOT. No, I don't mean a paris hilton sort of hot. I mean HOT! We are on the second floor of a two story building. More like an attic I would say. We have a small window but for whatever reason whoever cleans this place insists on closing it! Today it was about 22degrees. Hot hot but there was a nice breeze. Well, it is way past my bedtime so I'll post more with pictures later!

cheers!