Ggie came! Paul’s mom (Margie) arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and we spent the last few days organizing, cleaning, and shopping. Actually, Rachel pretty much demanded that Ggie spend every second playing with her, so we did lots of good work when Rachel gave us a break. Ggie brought some much needed belongings and supplies from home, and best of all, she’s family! So we don’t feel so alone. We went to the doctor's office, the park, shopping, and all the fun places. It's a lot easier to go run errands with Ggie here to help!
We got to go into the city to pick up Paul from school and see where he spends his days! Rachel's favorite part was riding on Paul's bike.
Play group-there are a few sisters in the ward that meet on Thursdays at the church for playgroup. The kids run around and play with nursery toys, and the mums (yes, that “u” is on purpose) sit and chat for an hour or so. It was a fun outing for Rachel and for me. Rachel needed to get energy out, and I needed some friend time-win win! We actually had 4 Americans and 2 Brits, so I felt right at home.
The miracle of the boxes: We shipped over 8 decent size moving boxes from America (which sounds like a lot, but when you look at them stacked against the wall and think about that being all you own in the world, it’s really not much). Anyway, Paul used to work for a company that does international shipping, so he called up his old work buddies and they got us a great deal. A little over $800 for everything-the best deals elsewhere charge $1200-$1500 per room. When the boxes arrived in England, we expected an invoice, but didn’t get one. I asked Paul to e-mail Quinn (his work buddy) who responded “Merry Christmas. Pass it forward.” !!!!!!!! What a HUGE miracle and blessing that is! I had to cry for a minute over that one.
After begging and pleading and calls and texts and e-mails and a week of broken promises on the delivery date… OUR SOFA IS HERE AND IT IS GLORIOUS!!!! I never knew how important it was-having comfortable place to sit and talk with people, get off your feet, etc. When I count my blessings, I count our sofa a few times.
The bed. Oh my. We ordered a super king size bed (the size of an American king…ish). I know. It’s an extravagance, but this pregnant lady couldn’t imagine sleeping in a tiny bed anymore, and I found a great deal. Don’t judge. Saturday, we received two single size box springs (they hook together) and a great big, beautiful mattress-brand new too! The delivery man just got them in the house and left, so Paul and I started to bring them upstairs, only to discover that the box springs WOULD NOT FIT! This is England-we only do tiny stair cases that are incredibly steep… and ours turn sharply at the bottom as well. No worries. We measured it out and Paul discovered that we could take the box springs up by dragging them through the kitchen, into the bathroom to angle out the back door, then Paul lifted them onto the back awning while Margie pulled them through Rachel’s bedroom window. (We had to completely take the window off its hinges.) Then Paul came up and angled them through the doorway, down the narrow hallway, and into our bedroom. But don’t worry-we only had to SMASH the mattress in half and have all three of us shove it up the stairs! Hilarious. Of course we documented the whole thing.
The weather is now colder and rainy, so it’s harder to get out and go places. Good thing I’m about to burrow in for the winter with my babies!
Doctor drama: I called Birmingham Women’s Hospital on Wednesday to see if they had received my information from the doctors in Lichfield. They hadn’t. So, they told me to register with a GP (General Practitioner) who would refer me to a midwife who can then book me with a hospital. So, I walked to the GP’s office (a little over .5 mile) to register. They of course freaked out because I was already 3 days overdue and had no records of me-told me to come back at 5 that evening to see the doctor. More walking. Saw the doctor who told me it was a useless appointment-all I need to do is tell the ladies at the front desk I’m pregnant. (Could they really not tell?) I went out to tell the ladies I am pregnant and need a midwife, and they said the earliest the midwife could see me was a week later. I politely demanded they figure out something faster, and they said they’d call me the next day. Got an appointment to see Claire, the midwife, on Monday (Oct 20). We’ll continue the story from there…
Rachel’s corner:
-Started saying “I can't! I can’t do this” for no reason other than to make us laugh. I have no idea where it came from, and part of me thinks she heard me say it in my sleep or something. I hope not. (I have since discovered that it's Jessie from "Toy Story"-she doesn't want to jump in the box. Ha!)
-Loves sleeping and playing in her “cot” (crib) in her lovely new room
-Still fights me at meal times, so we have to say “Take a big bite for Elsa. Now a big bite for Olaf. Now one for Ariel…” right on down to her friends including Aurie, Sariah, Archie the dog, and anyone else we can think of.
-Rachel has been absolutely SPOILED ROTTEN by all the toys people have donated. Oh. My. Goodness. I’m pretty sure she has twice the toys she had in America. We had to hide some in our tiny attic space for future Christmas and birthday presents!
-We practice our own version of "Duck Duck Goose"...
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