Holiday Break

Sorry anyone who keeps checking for a blog update. In England for Christmas and so will do a Christmas and New Year blog update when we return to Alaska. Merry Christmas to you all in the meantime.

The broken spell

I'm going to start with a movie recommendation.  I rarely do this as I'm always nervous that people will come back to me saying how awful they thought the movie was.  Maybe it's because we just finished watching it and I'm still in that warm, fuzzy feeling stage you get after a good movie.  But whatever the reason, I think you should all go out and hire "The Blind Side".  It stars Sandra Bullock and is based on a true story.  I think it may have won a few awards as well (so I'm not the only one who thinks it was good!).  Anyway, Pete and I both really enjoyed it.  Makes you feel good (although not all the way through – some sad bits there too).

But watching movie's is not all we've been doing.  Far from it.  Pete's survived a hair-raising plane trip, we've been to Christmas parties, done some more Christmas shopping, workouts, potty training continuing etc.  It feels busy busy here as always.

Pete went to Dutch Harbor this week.  He was supposed to leave on Wednesday and be back Friday but the plane got cancelled on Wednesday as it was too windy in Dutch Harbor to land.  So instead he left first thing Thursday morning.  Which was lovely for me and the girls to get a bonus night with him.   But although it was safe enough for the plane to land in Dutch Harbor the next day, it was still a pretty scary event as the plane was being buffeted around and it's a pretty tough airport landing anyway.  Pete thought the more faint-hearted among us, may not have survived the nerves!  Thankfully he did and the weather was ok for the flight back and (after prayers from Naomi) he came home safely on the Friday night.

Naomi is continuing to do well with the potty training but we do still have an accident or two here and there.  She loves childcare and has moved to a different group now that she can use the "big girls toilet".  But she is really working on that American accent and Pete and I have exchanged many a look as she talks to us.  She is going to have a very confused accent.

Lydia has been good too.  She has a really funny smile at the moment where she smiles so big that she shuts her eyes.  Hard to describe but adorably cute to watch.  She loves her big sister and wants to play with her and her toys a lot.  Naomi has other ideas sometimes though and tries desperately to move her toys away from her sister.  But with Lydia now crawling she just makes her way round to where Naomi has pushed them.  Think Naomi has some adjusting to do about sharing her toys with her sister.  I can just hear the future quarrels now!

Another landmark this week was Pete's turn for the Alaskan road test.  Thankfully he passed and so we are now both holders of Alaskan driver's licences.  Watch out Alaska!

Pete and I had a lovely workout at the gym together.  When his flight got cancelled on Wednesday he thought he would surprise me at the gym as he knew I was going.  Funny thing was he looked around the gym and couldn't see me so thought I must have changed my mind.  He got on a treadmill and after a few minutes we both suddenly realised that we were running next to each other!  I was wearing a baseball cap which is why he hadn't recognised me and I hadn't bothered to look over at the person who got on the treadmill next to me.  Was quite funny that he went to find me, gave up and then found me by mistake.  So we enjoyed a run and some weights together.  Naomi was still at childcare and Lydia was in the crèche.  It was sort of a mini date!

We also had the Shell Christmas party this weekend which was good fun and another chance to be out without the kids - always appreciated and enjoyed.  Pete's work colleagues are so friendly as are the majority of people here in Alaska.

On the downside this week, the spell has finally been broken.  Naomi has worked out she can get out of her bed.  Sounds odd.  She climbs in and out all the time when we're around.  But once we've said goodnight it's exactly like it was when she was in a cot.  She thinks she needs to cry out if she wants something to get us to come back in and help her.  I've liked this as I know she will stay put and won't be secretly sitting on the balcony behind us while we watch TV. Or refusing to go to bed and constantly running out of her room.  But this week she came out of her room.  Poor kid must have been crying for a while.  Pete was in the shower and I was getting ready for bed and over the noise of the shower we didn't hear her crying.  I suddenly did and came out of our room.  She was standing in the corridor looking over the balcony trying to find us, crying her eyes out.  Lydia's door was wide open so she had already been in there to look for us.  She obviously had tried crying out to us but when there was no response she came looking and poor kid still wasn't sure where we were.  Took a while to get her back to sleep.  Now she hasn't done it since but it's only a matter of time.  And she seems to be needing less sleep as she keeps waking up at around 6 and calling out for us.  It's so dark and cold at that time that we just tell her to lie back down and she goes back to sleep.  Hopefully she'll either stop waking up or at least will keep going back to sleep quickly.  I don't want to get up that early every day.

So I'm super excited as this week we head back to the warmth of England (now there's a phrase I didn't think I'd say in December!).  Really looking forward to Christmas with my family.  Just hoping the kids don't tear apart Mum and Dad's house. Fingers crossed. Have a great week everyone.

The Big Man

Potty training has continued to take a lot of our emotional energy this week (and sometimes physical with dashes to the nearest toilet!).  She's definitely getting the hang of it but we are not accident free yet.  The start of the week was good and thankfully she had 2 days at childcare with no accidents at all.  But at the end of the week a few more accidents crept in.  Mostly no.2 which is far less pleasant to clean up but at least doesn't go all over the floor too (yet!!).  But at least we've made our way out of the house a few more times now.  Still making sure we go places where there is a toilet nearby and I think I'm on edge the whole time waiting for that little cry "Mummy, wee wee" and working out how long it will take me to get to the toilet and how to do that with Lydia too.  It is definitely tricky to use public toilets with a small toddler who needs to be held on the toilet to stop from falling in and a baby who I don't really want crawling round on the floor seeking out things to put in her mouth.  Thankfully there have been a few helpful ladies in the bathrooms who have offered to hold Lydia for me.  We'll get the hang of it.

Other than that this week has held lots of unpacking boxes and building flat pack shelving units for the girls' playroom.  I'm very excited by the new storage I'll have for all of their toys.  Unfortunately, one box had an incorrect piece in it so we can't finish building until they send us the replacement part.  But out of the 8 sections to build we just have that 1 remaining.  I reckon I should start my own business of building people's flat pack furniture.  I've done so much of it over the past few years, I'm becoming an expert!

Not sure if I wrote before about what Pete and I are giving each other for Christmas but in case I didn't, we got each other a La-Z-Boy (a recliner seat for those who don't know).  I had sat in one a couple of months ago and loved it.  Finally managed to get Pete into the same store and between me and the sales man (and the chairs themselves) he agreed that this was a great thing for us to get.  So he chose "The Big Man" chair – mostly suited to those who are grossly overweight but also made for those tall guys.  So finally Pete will have a chair that is suited to his long legs and gives him the back support he needs in the right place.  I'm wondering though if he's going to be so comfortable there that he'll end up sleeping in it rather than get out and go to bed!  I went in to the store this week as I wasn't happy about the different fabrics on his and my chairs and the awesome sales guy agreed to re-upholster Pete's one for free.  A bit of a silly move really as I went in prepared to pay for it so he would have got more commission.  I think he wasn't sure how to work the computer properly and it was easier to just give it to me for free.  Either way I was very happy and am super excited to be getting our new chairs.  Mine is due to arrive early Jan and Pete's in early Feb (as his needs to be re-upholstered).

We got lots of Christmas present shopping done too which is great.  More to do but at least we've done a big chunk of it.

The mother's group I go to at church also had a mum's night this Friday.  Everyone brought a traditional Christmas dish to share so we had lots of yummy treats.  Was a fun night and nice to be getting to know some of them a bit more, without the kids running around us too.

Pete is off to Dutch Harbour this week for a few days so it'll just be the girls and me.  But with Naomi in childcare 3 days and the church group and my other mother's group, the week gets pretty full up so I'm sure the time he is away will pass quickly.  And then it's less than a week until we get on the plane back to England – yippee!  So looking forward to it.  And it'll be good being back a week before Christmas, partly so we can get over jetlag, but also as I'll have done all the present shopping, I'll just be able to enjoy this wonderful time of year with most of the stressful bits (come on you know there are stressful bits to Christmas too) behind me.

Hope you are all enjoying Advent and remembering the real reason we're celebrating as well as enjoying those carols in the shops and the twinkly Christmas lights.  I definitely am – I love Christmas.

Wipe, wipe, wipe (not noses this time!)

So it's been potty training week and I'm barely able to write anything positive.  It is so tough!  The books all say to be really positive with your child but that is incredibly hard to do when you think they've got it and then there's an accident.  The first day went incredibly well.  We were putting her on the potty very regularly so there wasn't a lot of time for accidents.  We had one at the end of the first day but that was it.  So day two we decided to let her take some more responsibility.  We had lots of accidents that morning but the afternoon was better.  By then we were all getting a little cabin feverish.  Day three brought more accidents (mostly of the dirty rather than wet variety – this is a difficult topic to write about without grossing everyone out – sorry!).  By day 4 she was screaming every time she did a poo and we had to wipe her bottom.  That made it even harder to stay positive with her as we were so busy trying to get her to stop crying.  We'd picked these few days as it was Thanksgiving here so should have been a four day weekend for Pete.  However, work was so busy that he had to go in to the office a couple of times and be on the phone or computer a lot.  So by halfway through today (day 4) I was ready to give up as it was so hard to be positive and do it all myself.  But on speaking to my parents and sister I felt better and decided to continue for the rest of the day.  I'm not sure how I'm going to feel tomorrow as Pete will be at work all day.  And if she keeps crying for every poo it doesn't seem fair to her to carry on.  We'll see.

So whilst that has definitely taken most of the emotions of the week there has been one other major event.  Lydia is on the move!  She's figured out crawling.  She's been on all fours for a while and doing the rocking back and forth thing but hadn't figured out how to actually move forward.  And now she knows how to do it, she's off!  Which is quite a worry as we have stuff all over the floor that she is now after.  We have some shelving for the playroom waiting to be built but 2 of the base pieces are yet to be delivered so we don't know when we may do that.  That will help as I can limit the number of toys that Naomi gets down and help to make it safer for Lydia.  I've already had to move some Christmas lighting as Lydia was trying to pull the electrical cord and it wouldn't be long before she'd be trying to bite it – not great!  So it is an exciting step but comes with its challenges.

Our rental furniture has finally been collected.  So that's left some more space but we're still surrounded by boxes.  I manage to get about 1 unpacked a day but that's it.  So it's going to take a long time to get fully settled.

The weather has been crazy this week.  The snow falls and the machines come out and everyone carries on as normal (whereas I freak out about trying to drive anywhere).  But the rain comes down and everything stops!  The rain meant that there was more ice on the road and the walkways, so it was decided that the schools should be shut as it was too dangerous for those living away from main roads or those who had to walk to school.  Naomi's childcare follows the school pattern so it was also closed. But we managed to find enough to keep Naomi occupied.

I also went to the gym one afternoon and thankfully Lydia was happy for the entire time I was working out.  I think she's starting to get used to it.  She seems to know the lady in the crèche now and as I'm going in the afternoon it's a lot quieter so I think she feels safer when it's a bit quieter. 

Pete got tickets for the Alaska Shootout this week.  It's a basketball university event that happens every Thanksgiving.  He was really happy to be watching basketball.  We went together one night and then he went by himself the following night.

So that's about it for our week.  Keep praying for Naomi to be ok with potty training and that she'll go ok trying to do it at childcare too.  No idea how much they'll be helping her out.  So I may have to deliver more clean clothes to them over the day! And I think Christmas present shopping needs to start too.  As always much to do!

Alaskan Licence

So I've finally had a free evening to update you all on the comings and goings of the Scotts this last week.

So this week I passed my Alaskan driving road test.  Phew!!  Would have been fairly embarrassing to fail when I've been driving for 13 years.  But I managed to overcome the nerves, forget the cold and ignore the fact that Lydia had me up for half an hour in the night, and pass. So I am now the holder of an Alaskan driving licence.  Now to get Pete one.  His trouble is finding the time to even sit the knowledge test let alone the driving test.  He is incredibly busy with work at the moment but continuing to enjoy the new challenges.

As I've just mentioned, Lydia has been a bit of a mischief this last week or so.  She's been up in the evening or overnight for most nights.  She's had a cold but it doesn't seem like that is what's bothering her.  I think it's more of a separation anxiety thing as she stops crying the second we go in and starts again as soon as we close the door when we leave.  Not sure what to do really.  Hopefully she'll get over it soon.  She did manage to last for about 20 mins in the crèche at the gym this week.  I went during the afternoon and it was really quiet in there, so maybe that helped.  I did a really, really short run and came back, expecting her to be screaming and she was fine.  Lots on this coming week though but I'm hoping to be able to take her again so she gets used to being in there.

An exciting event this week was our sea freight from Australia arriving.  Yippee!!  Was so good to see some of our things again.  But we are now surrounded with boxes and 2 sets of furniture (ours and the rental company furniture).  We had also made a bit of an error with timing and invited all the neighbours on our street over for a party at the weekend.  So we had to apologise for the state of our house as we all manoeuvred around everything.

But having said that, we had a very successful party.  We'd only had 2 houses who told us they were coming so we weren't expecting many people but in the end, lots turned up.  We had a great time and Naomi loved being around the other children (mostly girls).  Apparently in summer, everyone is out on the street lots and all the kids run around together.  That will be something to look forward to.

I joined a book club this week.  The lady who was our relocation agent here invited me to join her group and I went along this week.  Was a lovely evening.  We all had dinner together and discussed the book along with life in general.  They meet once every other month which is a nice amount as I don't have tons of free time to read.  So hopefully another forum to make new friends.

In amongst all that we've tried to do some unpacking although there is still LOTS left to do.  I put up some Christmas lights outside our house and in the playroom.  Yes I know it's quite early but other people here have theirs up and we are leaving to go back to England on the 16^th December so they have to get their use for the year.  Naomi gets really excited by the "pretty colours" on our neighbour's house so I wanted to have some on ours too for her to be excited by.  So even though ours are far less impressive, she still seems to like them.

We also bought ourselves 2 La-Z-Boy recliners this weekend which is our Christmas present to each other.  Very exciting.  Just hoping they'll fit in our lounge room.  We'll do a proper measure once all the rental furniture has moved out tomorrow.  We can still change our mind on the new recliners but I'm hoping we don't have to.

So this week holds Thanksgiving.  We had a wonderful invite for thanksgiving from someone at the mums group at church I go to each week.  I had met this lady once and she sent me a message asking if we'd like to come over to their house on thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving here is a big family event so I'm very touched that she's asked us to join her family.  Unfortunately though we've had to say no, as we'd decided we wanted to use the long weekend to potty train Naomi.  Eeek!!  So please say a prayer for us as we run to the bathroom at lightning speed over and over and we enter this new phase.  Fingers crossed she gets it quickly.

Not tonight

So I usually try to blog on a Sunday night but it's just one thing too much tonight. Lydia has been awake for a lot of the evening plus we don't have any power to our laptop so I'm trying to do this by phone (takes a lot longer). So I will do my best to blog tomorrow night instead.

Apologies.

Separation Anxiety

No, I don't mean I have separation anxiety from Australia. I mean Lydia. She's not doing very well, whenever I'm not around. I tried to leave her twice in the gym playcentre this week. The first time she was crying after 15 minutes of me not being there. The second after 15 seconds! And the same at church. She's even not very happy when someone else holds her, even if I'm still in sight. She doesn't quite cry but she frowns and whines a bit. So it's something I'm still working on. Will try to go to the gym in the afternoons next week in the hope that it may be quieter and so she may feel a bit safer. Hopefully she'll get used to it otherwise I won't be able to go and I'll have to cancel my membership. That would make me sad as I've been looking forward to getting back into shape.

At the start of this week it snowed a lot. It was really deep and I'm very glad I have a big car, otherwise I'd feel like I was struggling to see over the top of the snow in some streets where it hadn't been ploughed. I went to a meet up of the mums and toddlers group I've joined. It was at the group organisers house and was really good fun. Naomi loved playing with some other kids her age and with new toys too. There are lots of activities organised with this group but I think we'll only be able to make it once a week due to childcare. But that will be ok for us. It's good to be chatting with other mums and also with others who are new to Anchorage (as many of the mums in this group happen to be).

Pete and I had a night without kids thanks to a wonderful lady at church who offered to come over and look after the girls for us. There was an evening at Pete's boss' house which we went to. Everyone is so lovely and welcoming. Was nice to see some familiar faces that I had met at the mayor's ball. We had a fun time.

Naomi started full days at childcare this week. I don't think she sleeps as long there as she would at home so she seemed a bit more tired in the evenings. I did find out something bad about the childcare place. Apparently there are two days where they let them watch a video (I had been told it was once a week which I thought was ok). But not only that. The length of time they watch for is not the 30 minutes I'd been told but an hour and a half. I think that's way too much for a 2 year old. Plus why am I paying someone to look after my daughter and all they're doing is sitting her in front of the TV. But I'm not sure there is much I can do about it. One of the TV sessions is quite late in the day so I may pick her up early that day. I'm sure that will lead to tears when she realises she doesn't get to watch so I'll need a good plan for what we'll be doing instead.

The most exciting thing for me this week was that we booked our flights back to England for Christmas. And we're going for 4 more days than I'd originally thought which is awesome. Now to book in the dates we'll see people. Hopefully we'll have some rest time too as it's been a hectic few months for us all.

I ordered a bed online for Naomi and bought the mattress from a store near Pete's work. Hopefully she won't have any issues with her bed changing when they take away the rental furniture. We're hoping that if we get her the same sheets she won't really notice or mind. I also bought a storage solution for the toys in the playroom. I'm really looking forward to that room getting tidier as there are toys all over the floor. It's actually getting quite dangerous on a couple of fronts. First I've nearly tripped a number of times on different toys. And also now that Lydia is moving around more (mostly backwards crawling but she can spin around and get to wherever she wants to go), its worrying having some of Naomi's smaller toys on the floor that Lydia could very easily get into her mouth. So it will be good to only be getting out a few toys at a time.

Also went to the church mums connect group this week. Naomi was much happier playing than last week but the poor thing did get bitten on the nose by a younger boy. He was trying to give her a cuddle and it went a bit too far. I've seen it before and it's just a phase but the poor mum was distraught and felt terrible. Naomi was fine. Cried a bit but I think it was mainly shock. She kept telling me that the green boy bit her (he was wearing a green T-shirt). This is the way she describes people now. Pete was understandably confused when she was talking about the little green boy.

We had a lovely family weekend. We started just by doing our weekly food shopping but I'd found a different supermarket during the week that meant we could drink coffee/hot chocolate whilst shopping, Naomi could go to the playcentre whilst we shopped, Pete could buy some good quality snow boots and I could look at Christmas decorations. All in the supermarket! I then went out at lunch time to a different place and bought myself some snow boots. We then went to a place called Kincaid Park to do some sledding. Below are some videos and photos. We then went to a pancake house for a light dinner as a family. Was really fun.

On Sunday we went to church and then Pete took Naomi swimming. I went to our neighbour's house at lunchtime for a clothing party (kind of like a Tupperware party but with clothes). There were some really beautiful things and I wish I had more money as I could have spent a fortune. Managed to restrain myself to a top and a jacket/sweater. We then went over to the house of one of Pete's work colleagues. It was good fun. The boys watched the American Football game on TV. They had cooked us a yummy Mexican meal and I chatted with the wife. They have two kids and Naomi played with them although she did try to boss the little girl around quite a bit! Was a late night for the girls so there were a few tears in the car on the way home but overall it was an enjoyable evening.

This week should see our sea freight arrive, as well as a party with the neighbours to get to know them. With Christmas fast approaching I may have to get my thinking cap on for presents too. More shopping – what a shame (hehe!).

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Did I not finish my last post by saying I didn't want the snow to come this week? Well that was a sure way to make sure it came down! I think we will be viewing white for a few months now. It's very pretty but has definitely brought some new challenges to us. But let me back up a bit.

Pete went away this week to New Orleans and Mum had just left last weekend so I was a bit worried about facing the week alone. Didn't start the best as I went to take my theory test at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and the process took a lot longer than thought. I'd driven all the way there and then they told me I didn't have the right ID. Had to go to the nearest branch of my bank to get something they would accept. Thankfully I then passed the test (phew!). But then they said I needed to wait in line. I wasn't sure what for. I just assumed it was for some piece of paper to prove I'd passed or a provisional Alaskan license or something. When I finally got to the front, I was told there was nothing I needed to do. Very annoying. Now the next step is to take the road test which is scheduled for a couple of weeks' time. Am nervous as still getting used to the other side of the road and I've picked up bad habits over the years since I last took my test. And now the snow has arrived there is another reason to be nervous.

For three of the days Pete was away, Rachel came to help me with the kids in the afternoon/evening. Was good to have someone else for Naomi to play with (and by play with I mean boss about!). Really helped having someone there, particularly at bathtime.

On Tuesday morning I woke to the snow. It actually scared me quite a bit. I'd been hearing so many stories of crashes and skidding in the snow whilst driving so I was getting quite scared about the snow arriving. I decided to stay in that morning. It was probably a good decision. I knew I had to go out in the afternoon to pick up Rachel. Thankfully before I had to leave, our driveway had been cleared as had our road. So I wasn't as nervous getting in the car (which is a better state of mind for driving).

Naomi cut her lip this week and I gave her some chocolate to help her feel better. The next morning she told me her lip felt better. But that afternoon, at the same time that she had cut her lip the day before, she announces that her lip was sore and so she needs some chocolate. Love it! Changed her mind and needed chocolate – definitely a girl.

Went to the gym for my first workout in a long time. Naomi was at childcare and I put Lydia in the crèche. The workout went ok but unfortunately Lydia wasn't very happy. She played ok for about 45 mins but then cried lots so they came to find me. Bit nervous about the next time that I have to put her in there now. They thought she was tired and hungry but she wasn't due for either a feed or a sleep. And after a couple of minutes with me she calmed down. If I can get my workout done quickly then hopefully she'll be ok for a short while. But I think we're hitting that separation anxiety phase. At church this week they had to call me back to the nursery as she was crying. So it's going to be tough there too. Will keep you updated.

I also went to a church group for Mums with toddlers. Was good. Naomi was a bit clingy at first but I think she'll warm up to it. And I think it'll be another good way to meet people.

Pete got back on Friday from New Orleans. He has also started at the new gym and enjoying being able to workout again. He's probably the most excited in the house about the snow. This weekend he went out and bought Naomi a sled but I'm fairly sure it's really for him! They went out on it after church today and seemed to have lots of fun. Pete has spent a lot of time recently on a particular high profile ad campaign in Washington which has all come together this weekend. Hopefully it will have the results hoped for.

Our current project is trying to find a new bed for Naomi. When we got here she moved from being in a cot to being in a big girls' bed. We've been renting our furniture but we've been told that our sea freight has arrived (yippee!) and may get delivered this week. So the rental furniture will be going and so Naomi needs her own bed. So we spent a lot of the weekend looking at different beds. Hopefully the one we've picked will work out ok.

Pete just did some late night shopping to get some emergency car equipment (torches, snow shovels, hypothermia blankets, etc.). Ironically the car skidded for him on the way there and he passed cars in the ditch. Thankfully our cars have an antiskid device so he made it there and back in one piece. Our babysitter also told us about her school bus going into the ditch and her friend's school bus turning right over. It's definitely dangerous out there.

So this week hopefully holds some safe driving, our things from Australia arriving, Naomi moving from half to full days at childcare and work dinners for Pete. We hope you're all enjoying life.

Wipe, wipe, wipe

It's felt like a busy week with not much time for blogging unfortunately.  I think I may have to blog once a week from now on as it's hard to fit things in.

So this week has unfortunately involved sickness for both the girls.  They started getting runny noses on Monday (the downside of childcare I expect). By Tuesday afternoon Lydia was getting quite bad and on Wednesday she was not happy at all.  She slept most of Wednesday morning and that seemed to help her a lot.  By Thursday she was back to her smiley self.  Naomi managed to escape without getting too bad.  They both still have runny noses so tissues are never far from hand at the moment.

Naomi had her immunisations on Monday.  She was very brave and patient.  We had to wait a long time between seeing the nurse, then seeing the doctor, and then back to the nurses again for the actual jabs.  A long process.  Naomi was more shocked than anything when they put the needles in.  Two nurses put one each in her legs at the same time.  They then "reloaded" and jabbed her again (there were a few immunisations that she was short of).  It was for the second load that she had begun crying.  But Dad blew some bubbles in the room and I gave her a cuddle and she quickly stopped.  I was very impressed with her.  Thank you for your prayers.  She didn't suffer any side effects over the next few days other than bruises from where the needles had gone in.

Tuesday was Mum & Dad's wedding anniversary so we drove them to a restaurant in the evening for a romantic night.  But it was sad when they returned as it marked the end of Dad's stay.  I was very sad as it's been such a wonderful time.  Both kids seemed to love having him around. Pete drove him to the airport in the morning but nearly didn't.  Dad's alarm didn't go off so when Pete got up, expecting to find Dad eating his breakfast, he found silence and darkness.  Lucky Pete was taking him and not a taxi that would have just left if no one was ready.  But Dad got up quickly and got dressed and made it to the airport on time.

A good thing that happened this week was Naomi getting some full days at childcare. To start with they only had 3 mornings free but now some full days have come up.  So from 8th November she will stay all day.  Should be a good thing that she can join in for all the day's activities.  I'm hoping it means I can get a lot more done without having to drag her around all the boring things (so far Lydia hasn't been too bothered by the boring things!).

I also went along to a Mum's group this week.  It's a new group that someone has decided to start up as she is new to Anchorage.  It turns out that quite a few of the mums are new in town so I felt in the right place.  The Mum organising the group is arranging things for 3 days a week mostly.  Unfortunately, they are the days that Naomi is at childcare currently but once she starts full days we'll be able to make at least one of the meetups.  The group is aimed at the toddlers so it's a bit weird to go without Naomi.  Maybe once I've got to know them a bit I could go without her, particularly if the activity is something Lydia would like.

I joined the gym this week with my membership starting next week.  After 90 days we can cancel if we're not using it.  They have a crèche so I'm hoping the girls will like it and I can go during the week, during the day.  It's Pete who's not sure if he'll use it enough as he's so busy with work.  It's not Re-Creation but it'll do for while we're here.

On Mum's last day, Pete stayed home with the girls while Mum and I attacked the shops one last time.  We found another great sale and a really good shop.  It's a bit of a drive away but worth it I think.  We got some take-away for our last dinner together for this trip which was yummy but tinged with sadness at the thought of saying goodbye in the morning.

As expected it was very hard to say goodbye.  The girls don't really understand what's going on but I was a mess.  Lots of crying.  It's been so wonderful having Mum around, on so many levels.  Someone to talk to, she's helped with the kids, yummy meals she's cooked and the list could go on and on.  I'm going to feel very lonely without her.  She only left this morning so I'm still quite raw.  Won't say anything else, otherwise the tears may start again and water and computers don't mix too well!

Pete is going to New Orleans tomorrow.  A trip he had told me about a few weeks ago but I had completely forgotten about.  He leaves early in the morning and gets back very late on Thursday night.  So I feel a bit like a rabbit in headlights.  I've gone from having two extra helpers as well as a husband to just me.  It'll be an exhausting week.  We've asked Rachel (the girl who came to babysit for us when we went to the mayor's ball the other week) to come and help me out for a few afternoons.  It means an extra person to play with Naomi and help out with the awful bath/bed time routine.  One of them usually makes a fuss at that time so it'll be good to have someone to help me.  So hopefully the time will pass quickly while Pete is away.

It's been Halloween night tonight and quite a change from what we're used to.  Naomi loved having lots of Trick and Treaters at the house (although there were a few masks that scared her a bit).  We only just had enough candy (got to use the right words) for everyone and we'd bought over 150 pieces!  There were some great costumes and some really poor attempts.  But for the most part everyone was really polite and grateful which made it an enjoyable experience.  I'm actually looking forward to next year and taking Naomi out all dressed up (although we may have to trade her candy for a toy at the end of the night!).

That's about it - a busy week and a sad end to it.  Fingers crossed we all survive the next week.  Going to be a challenge.  Thankfully the snow hasn't fallen where we are quite yet but its creeping down the mountain and it won't be long now.  That may be one challenge too many for me this week!  Wish me luck!

Travelling and accents

The last few days have just been me, Mum and Dad and the girls as Pete has been away at a conference. It hasn't really felt like a weekend until the end and now it's over and into another week. Sad as it's the last week with Mum and Dad. In fact Dad leaves on Wednesday, but Mum not till Sunday.

Pete's conference has been good. Tiring for him as he's had whole days talking to new people and then more meet and greets at evening functions. But overall he was pleased with how it all went.

We've been doing more shopping (of course). I start to realise just how much shopping we're doing when Naomi's bedtime prayer goes something like this:

"Thank you God for the shopping trolley," (a special one with a kids car on the front)," and thank you God for the shops and the other shops and the other shop". Pete did look at me as if to say "no prizes for guessing what you've been doing while I've been away!"

I've spent a long time on the phone trying to sort out finding us a local doctor but have met all sorts of opposition on the insurance side of things. It's incredibly complicated. We have an international policy, looked after in the US by an American insurance company, and they don't seem to have any affiliated doctors in Anchorage. Eventually, I think I've managed to find somewhere for the kids to go but not Pete and I yet. I don't think we'll have out of pocket expenses but I'll believe that after the first appointment. We're taking Naomi tomorrow to get her immunisations and physical that she needs to be properly enrolled into her childcare. They have a slightly different schedule from Australia for immunisations so she has to have a couple more jabs. Not looking forward to it as she's much more aware now of what is going on and she's also pretty strong and willful! Hopefully between Mum & Dad, the doctor and I, we should manage to get the needles into her. Any prayers appreciated.

Not sure if I mentioned that we bought a chest freezer for our garage and Mum and Dad kindly took me to Costco to stock it up. Mum also bought me a cookbook focussing on freezing meals so I plan to do more bulk cooking so that on nights I can't be bothered to cook, I can just whip a home cooked meal out of the freezer. I'm sadly excited by this new way of doing our meals.

A concerning part of the last few days has been Naomi saying her first American word. At childcare they watched an episode of Spot the Dog. She was talking about it afterwards but we couldn't understand what she was talking about. The next day Mum gave her a Spot the Dog sticker book. She immediately started saying the same word she had been saying after childcare which we had interpreted as Spud. She was saying "Spuut" rather than "Spot". It's very amusing hearing her. It'll be so interesting seeing how their accents develop from having an English parent, an Australian parent and American teachers and friends.

Mum & Dad continue to go above and beyond in helping us out. Dad has even had two days in the last four where he has cleaned poo out of the bath after Lydia had a little accident. Not really necessary for a Grandpop but very much appreciated that I didn't have to do it. Mum is being an emotional support as well as providing incredible meals for us all and looking after the girls and a million other things. Dreading them leaving.

Church today was good but again Naomi started to act up afterwards. Managed to prevent the tantrums that we experienced last week but it's very interesting that there's something about it that she's not happy with. She doesn't cry when we leave her now and she seems to really like the lady who takes care of her in there. We're wondering if she's exhausted or maybe if they're giving her biscuits that are high in sugar and she's just reacting to that as she doesn't have much sugar in her diet. Guess we'll keep an eye on it and talk more to the lady in her room next week. I had to stay with Lydia for a while this week as last week she didn't fall asleep in the nursery there. So I stayed to get her to sleep and then she was absolutely fine.

Lydia is starting to get somewhere with her crawling now. She launches up onto her toes and hands in a push-up position and today she then leaned forward before coming down on her tummy. Not the most elegant way of moving forward but at least she managed to get to the toy which had been placed just out of her reach. Don't think it will be long before she is crawling about the place. Scary thought!

Obviously Naomi is over-the-moon to have her Daddy back. No more trips away for a little bit so she should be happy. That's all for now folks. Chat again soon.

And the fourth decade begins

It's been busy busy busy here! I picked a childcare centre for Naomi and she started attending today.  She will be going for 3 mornings a week to begin with and later this will probably become 2 or 3 full days.  Her first day went really well with no crying when I left her.  Hoping that continues but now that she knows Mummy is going to be leaving her there, she may not be so happy next time.  But let's think positively!

She's been a very good girl the last few days apart from a disastrous Sunday.  Not sure what the problem was but she had a big melt down after church and screamed the whole way home in the car.  Was fairly trying for the rest of the day too.  But then Monday morning arrived and she was the best little girl ever.  I suppose we all have our bad days!

She's also going really well on the potty training front.  We're haven't fully started yet, but she sits on the potty first thing in the morning and before bathtime in the evening.  She clearly knows what she's supposed to be doing now as most days she has some success at one or the other or both.  So I think it's time to be buying some big girls pants and get started!  Not looking forward to the accidents though!

I suppose other than the childcare, the big thing for this week was my birthday.  The big three-oh!  I had a lovely day.  Lydia was brought to me in bed for feeding and then taken away so I could go back to sleep.  Was so luxurious to have some extra sleep in the morning.  Then Mum and I went to downtown Anchorage to do some shopping.  It was really good fun discovering the new shops and best of all there was a big sale on in one of the shops so I got lots of new clothes.  I managed to save more than I spent in the sale.  Very successful.  Mum & I then had lunch together at a lovely Steakhouse.

In the afternoon, we had some birthday cake.  Kev, you would have been proud of the size of this cake!  Take 2 chocolate mud layer cakes and put them on top of each other and you have my birthday cake.  It was fabulous.  A chocoholics dream!  He then directed us all to the basement where he had prepared a birthday game for me to play.  He'd taken a huge piece of cardboard and fashioned a spinner onto it and drawn a dial with the numbers 1-30.  I was told to spin and that every spin won a prize!  That's 30 prizes people!  I got some lovely gifts, ranging from DVDs (The Unit as it's a bit difficult to borrow Pat and Danni's copy now!) to candles to a giant bucket/tin of popcorn (an essential keepsake for all future popcorn eating so I'm told!).  And the grand prize was a holiday.  As Pete's next birthday is a big one too, we've decided to get each other a holiday next year somewhere special.  When and where still to be decided.  It was a really fun game and Naomi loved helping with giving me all the presents and spinning the dial.

Then in the evening Pete and I made our way to Mamma Mia! the musical at the theatre.  It was fabulous.  Only downside was that we couldn't dance along to all the songs.  We sang our hearts out in the car on the way home.  Very fun.

Pete is off to Fairbanks tomorrow (another part of Alaska which is a flight away) for a conference. So we'll be trying to cope with the kids on our own until Sunday. Hopefully shouldn't cause too much problem with Mum & Dad being the amazing help that they are. They're helping me with the kids, helping me shop, helping me cook for Lydia, cooking for the rest of us, repairing things, researching things on the internet, and the list goes on and on. I'm not sure what I would have done without them or what I'll do when they leave. But they're definitely helping me to be set up here so that when they do leave more things will be in place to enable us to start a more routine and normal way of life (not that I know what normal is, especially in Alaska!).

The Help Arrives

Yippee!! Mum and Dad are here. They arrived on Monday afternoon and I can't believe I was coping without them. They are being so incredibly helpful. Naomi and I made a big sign to hold up for them at the airport. She was very proud of it and they seemed to like it. It was so fun showing off our house to them and we got all the right "ooh" and "aah" noises from them. Wasn't the nicest day weather wise so we had to wait a couple of days for them to get the magnificent views of the mountains but now they've seen them, Dad especially, thinks they are incredible.

And they got their Alaskan welcome from our resident moose. Seems like this Mummy and 2 babies must live somewhere near our house as it seems like the same ones we've seen each time. And don't be fooled by the term babies – they're still the size of a small horse. This time they came right up our driveway and were right outside the window. They made their way round the house so we were following them round trying to get the best photo of them.

It's been a busy but productive few days for most of us. Pete is getting frustrated by the amount of red tape he comes across at every turn and seems to spend most of his day in meetings and then needs to do his actual work after that. But he's still enjoying the new challenges the job is presenting for him. The rest of us have been entertaining kids, cooking endless meals for all members of the family, fixing up parts of the house (wifi, surround sound, stopping squeaking doors etc) and of course, shopping! We also got in a trip to the zoo which was fun but fairly cold. The temperature is definitely on a downwards slope.

I had a bit of an ill spell on Tuesday. Nothing major that some paracetamol couldn't solve but I still had a lack of energy for the day. Think the major thing is a lack of sleep. Even with the incredible help that Mum and Dad are being, I still seem to end up doing lots in the evenings and not getting to bed until really late. I'm looking forward to my birthday on Saturday when I've been promised that after feeding Lydia I can go back to bed for a bit! Not quite a lie-in but close enough. And then I'm supposed to be doing some shopping with Mum (no we haven't done enough yet) and then Pete and I are going to the theatre to see Mamma Mia! Should be a good day. And there's snow forecast too. Think that will be a first for me on my birthday.

Lydia has been a bit out of sorts the last couple of days. For the majority of the day she is fine but then she'll get distressed, usually around meal times. Today after she had eaten hardly any breakfast I lifted her out of her high chair and into her baby rocking chair where she proceeded to do the largest vomit I've seen from her. Poor thing. Not that she seemed that bothered by it 30 seconds later. Maybe she had an upset tummy. She was a bit distressed later in the morning but slept well at lunchtime and was fine for most of the afternoon until it got close to bedtime where she got grumpy again. There may also be a tooth coming through as well.

Tried to upload the video of the house again but it doesn't seem to want to do it. Maybe I'll try Facebook (apologies to those of you not on Facebook).

I visited a few childcare centres today for Naomi. They vary in location, availability and style. But I think I'll go with the one that happens to be the closest as I liked the centre and program and they also had a couple of half days available now and then I could go on the waitlist for some full days instead in the future. Fingers crossed that Naomi will be happy there.

I had written some more to today's blog but I had that joy tonight that most of us experience at some point with computers, of the program crashing before you've hit save! So that's all for now folks. I'm off to bed. Good night (or morning depending where in the world you are!)

A father's nightmare

Only one main exciting thing has happened in the last few days: Pete got his new car!  He is very excited.  He actually got a brand new one as he was able to get a good deal.  So he now has a Dodge Ram (white) and I have a Chevy Traverse (Maroon).  We are definitely doing the American thing!  Pete is so excited about his huge truck.

I've done various shopping trips over the last few days trying to fit our house out with essentials like chopping boards and clothes airers as well as fill our pantry a bit.  Over the weekend Pete looked after the girls so I could go and enjoy the shops on my own.  Good to have a break for a bit.

At the end of this week we finally dropped Lydia's last feed of the day (1030pm).  She was barely taking anything and now that we're settled in the house we thought it was about time we saw if she could go right through the night.  Unfortunately the first night wasn't great.  She woke up at 430am but was only awake for about 15mins.  And now the last two nights she has gone right through for 12+ hours.  Yippee!!  I kept expressing right up until we dropped the feed and so now I've been ramping down how much I express and tomorrow is the last one! Another yippee!!!  So now we have two little girls who sleep very well – praise God.

More playcentre adventures with Naomi.  We went to a different location one this time.  Same company, different centre.  So it was very similar.  This one had a racing track bouncy castle.  It was like an assault course that 2 people go round in opposite directions and race each other.  I had Lydia strapped in the Baby Bjorn on my front but Naomi couldn't figure out what she was supposed to do on this assault course.  So Lydia and I joined her in there.  All fine until we came across an obstacle where you have to squeeze through a small gap.  And this is made for kids so small is really quite small.  So here was I, practically doing the splits to get myself through, pushing the lower barrier down so Lydia didn't scrape her nose on it and thankfully I came out ok the other side.  It was quite a challenge but great to be doing fun stuff with Naomi.  She loved it and was exhausted by the end. 

Naomi also had a classic line this week.  She likes to say what her favourite things are sometimes.  So she'll say purple is her favourite, or Jeff is her favourite (Wiggle).  The other day some boys were running past our house in the street and she was watching them.  She turned to Pete and said "Boys are my favourite".  A father's worse nightmare.  She followed it up with "I like boys".  She's 2!  We're not supposed to be dealing with this yet!

Pete and I went to the mayor's charity ball on Saturday night.  Was really fun to get all dressed up and the warm hospitality here continued with the people we were sitting with.  We're getting so many offers to dinner it's hard to keep track.  We managed to get a babysitter the night before which was a relief.  A colleague of Pete's knew a teenage girl we could ask.  She was lovely.  She came round while the girls were still up and Naomi just wanted to show off to her.  So I felt happy about leaving her with them because I'd been a bit nervous about someone new and someone young.  I'd be happy to use her again if we needed to but apparently there may be someone on our street who babysits.  That would probably be more convenient.  We'll see.

So I promised you some photos.  I've also got a couple of videos but they're taking a bit long to upload right now.  I'll put those up next time.  Here are the photos for now.

Moose outside our house

Kitchen to the eating area 

 Playroom

 Sitting room with fireplace

 Sitting room from balcony above

 Windows with view of the mountains and the inlet seen from balcony at the top of the stairs

Kid's bathroom (1 of 4 bathrooms!)

Corridor to guest room and laundry and bathroom (Lydia making a staring appearance)

Lydia's bedroom

Naomi's bedroom (sunset coming through the window) 

From the top of the stairs across the balcony towards the master bedroom

 

Master bedroom

 View from the master bedroom tonight

Master bathroom



Master bathroom spa

So there are some shots of our house.  I'm not the best photographer and there is a whole floor of the house I didn't take any pictures of.  But hopefully you'll all be coming to visit soon so it won't matter anyway!!

Radio silence (well internet silence)

We're online! After a few days without the internet (or longer if you count the intermittent wifi signal in the hotel) we finally have access to the internet again. So here is our update of the last few days.

Church on Sunday. We're still trying to get used to the new church. Lydia is ok as she's too young to get the separation anxiety thing. Naomi screams the place down when we leave her but apparently she is calm within a couple of minutes. The worship is less animated than we've been used to so that is taking some adjusting but the teaching is good. It's difficult with the kids to consider trying different churches to see what a good home for us would be. The ministry for the children is so awesome where we've found so that may win us over. But we'll stick with where we are for now and just keep assessing.

Pete took Naomi swimming in the afternoon and they were there for ages. They had great fun. Good for both of them to use up some energy! Naomi had on a life vest type thing for kids so now she is throwing herself in the water without Pete catching her and she floats around on her own too. Sometimes she wants to feel Dad's reassuring hand but mostly she has so much confidence. Good to see. Pete and I then had a good evening watching Robin Hood in the hotel room. Was nice just to stop and not think about all the things going on and what we could/should be doing.

Monday was a nothing sort of day but felt busy. I bought Naomi some shoes in the morning which she is still trying to get used to putting on herself. We then went over to the house in the afternoon to see if the beds had been delivered and whether we would be ready to move in on Tuesday. Beds were there but the frame for Naomi's bed (goes underneath the mattress base here) was out of shape and the headboard put together incorrectly. But nothing significant enough to stop us moving in so we spent Monday evening packing a load of suitcases and I did a trip to the house so I could get some stuff organised before the kids were there too. I wish I had more time to arrange everything without the kids around. I'd love to get the house organised so that everything had a home. With such a beautiful house it's a shame to just have stuff dumped everywhere. Maybe when Mum and Dad arrive next week I can do some of that and really make our house a home.

So we moved in on Tuesday. The cable guy came and connected the TV but as you can tell from the silence, the internet didn't get connected properly. We've spent a few days trying to get it sorted and finally someone came out with a new modem for us today. Lydia's been having trouble adjusted to her new cot (crib here). She's been waking up at lunchtime and needing me to go in and resettle her and sometimes in the evening too. So far today she's been ok and has settled herself back to sleep. Hoping that soon she'll stop waking up and crying at all. When I don't get the break at lunchtime I tend to get a bit overwhelmed and this happened on Tuesday. Was feeling homesick and just wanted everything back to normal so I had a little cry which always helps.

Naomi got her "big girl's bed" and seems to love it. We bought a blow up mattress for the floor in case she rolls out but we haven't heard her fall down so I think she's been ok. She looks very cute in it. She doesn't really seem to know what to do with the pillow as she's not had one in her cot before. She either doesn't use it or has her whole top half of her body lying on it!

As I get more things unpacked the place is starting to feel more like home. Will be good to get our own furniture in here though.

I got my new mobile/cell phone too. I got an iPhone 4 which I'm very excited about – it's beautiful! I'll be sending out a contact details email in the coming days so let me know if you haven't received anything in about a week and I'll let you know the best way to contact us.

The rental furniture company is not proving very reliable so far. Finally got our bedroom set delivered but one piece had been damaged in shipping so they took it away and didn't deliver the next day when they said they would. Finally arrived after lots of phone calls to them. But we're still missing the remote control for the DVD player so we'll be waiting for another visit from them sometime soon.

I've been doing lots of cooking for Lydia. These early stages of solids are tough going. There's so much cooking to do to ensure she gets a variety of meals. And when I have no food stock in the house it's quite a chore to cook any new meal. Slowly building up a supply of things but it feels like I'm dragging the kids to the shops everyday at the moment which Naomi is getting very fed up with (hopefully she'll learn that shopping can be fun!).

Stayed inside on Wednesday afternoon and while Naomi was being difficult for most of that time we did have a fun moment when I happened to glance out the window and saw two moose in our neighbours garden. It's weird seeing such a large animal happily chomping on the plants and trees right in front of the house. I got a photo but haven't loaded it onto the computer yet. I'll put that and some of the house up next time.

Pete was able to pick up a self install kit for our home phone and we got that connected today. At least that's one thing that has gone reasonably well and quickly. Nearly all the boxes from our air freight are unpacked now (just some clothes and a few toys still to go). We did find three broken casserole dishes so we may make a claim on those. But nothing sentimental has been damaged so far. Hopefully the same will be true of our air freight.

Ok, you're probably all a bit fed up of reading our boring tales. Let's end it there. Next time some exciting photos I promise!

Houses and car – check!

No prizes for guessing what two exciting things took up the last 2 days for us. Friday was spent at the new house. Our air freight arrived from Australia so Pete went to the house first thing to take that delivery. I then took the kids over later in the morning to wait for our rental furniture to arrive. It took them over 4 hours from when they first arrived, including a second trip to the warehouse and back as their truck was too small to deliver everything in one go. And after all that time we still didn't have one of the bedroom sets or a lead for the TV. So we arranged that on Saturday and they are arriving on Tuesday. We've got beds coming in a separate arrangement on Monday (hopefully, but like most things so far I'll believe it when I see it). So hopefully by Tuesday we should be ready to move in and sleep there. While the guys unloaded the furniture, Naomi & I unpacked a couple of the toy boxes from the air freight. Was really fun playing with lots of the old toys again. Her favourite cuddly toy is a big Woody (from Toy Story). I tried to give her clues that I was getting him out of the box but she couldn't guess. When I finally said "Woody" she looked a bit confused and then you could see the light go on in her head. Her mouth went open and she went "oh, oh , my BIG Woody!" She was so excited. I wish I had it on video. It was adorable. She gave him a big cuddle.

While we were at the house, Pete left work and went to each of the utility companies to sign us up. These processes all take time but hopefully everything went through ok & we have all the utilities. The cable (phone, internet & TV) won't be working straight away though. Someone is due to be coming to the house on Tuesday to do internet & TV but phone line may not be done until middle of the month. We may be able to speed that up once we have the internet and TV part done. More loops and as Pete says "we just keep on jumping".

I'll put photos up of the house, or maybe a video on Facebook, once we have all the furniture and we can do a proper tour to show you all.

Of course, Friday held AFL Grand Final 2010 The Sequel. And with a Pies win, Pete was very happy and jumping around the room!

We only had one incident on Friday with Naomi. As we were leaving the hotel room, I realised I had forgotten something. I asked her to come back into the room which of course translated in her head as please run off down the corridor. As I came out the room I heard the lift doors open (she loves to press the call lift button). Then I heard the doors close. As I got there – no Naomi! I could hear the doors open on a floor below and people talking – obviously discovering a small child on her own. Eventually they let the doors close again and the lift came up to get me. Lydia and I went down to the floor below and then to the ground floor. No sign of Naomi. Panic beginning to creep in now and thoughts of all the horrible stuff you see on TV are coming to mind. But I made my way to the front desk as that's where I would take a young child I found alone. And sure enough there she was. After thanking the nice man (mercifully not a nasty man) I tried to explain to Naomi how she mustn't run off but I don't think any of it was taken in.

Saturday we spent looking at cars. There was a silent auction type sale on so Pete had a brief look there and it turned out to be the same dealership we had previously visited. In the afternoon we went back to the dealership and saw a different car that we hadn't been able to have a look at yet. And to cut a long story and negotiation short, we got it! So this is my car. It's a 2009 Chevrolet Traverse. It has 8 seats (one less reason for not coming to visit us!). Pete is now feeling very poor but I'm super excited as I love it! It's going to take a bit of time to get used to how big it is but I know it'll be great for us. Now we just need to find one for Pete.

We've had various issues in the hotel, main one being the internet. We have a wifi connection in the room and the signal strength has been at best poor. It always cuts out on us, so apologies for not being in better touch with you all. And tonight after our big spend, we decided to get an in-room movie. After 45 mins fiddling with the remote, numerous calls to reception and one guy coming up to have a look, we realised we were not going to get our movie in. Very frustrating as I'd been looking forward to seeing it since I saw it advertised on the front desk when we arrived. Oh well.

Last thing I want to mention is how wonderful my second daughter is. They are both wonderful of course but Lydia keeps surprising me at how tolerant she is being throughout this whole settling process. She is being dragged around in the Baby Bjorn or the pram and is usually completely silent so we almost forget she's there. She gives huge grins to anyone who looks at her. She constantly has to be fed late as we finish up somewhere and she barely moans. We are truly blessed. Just wanted to give Lydia the good girl award for today!