I turned 26 last Saturday. AH!!! I’m feeling really young for 26 and really old for life. How does that work? I don’t know. But here I am! I will say that for the first time in my life, I feel like an adult. Luckily, I've got Rachel, Alice, and Paul to bring out the kid in me. :)
We woke up on my birthday to a fussy Rachel. She was running a fever, but we had already made plans to go out, and I felt confident leaving her with Becky and Bev. They came to babysit while Paul and I went to lunch at Bella Italia (like an Olive Garden) and went shopping at the Bullring (a big mall downtown). I got a few things from H&M, and we spent the better part of 1.5 hours trying to get home on the bus. The GP (regular doctor) isn’t open on Saturdays, so I called the medical hotline which advised me to take Rachel to a walk-in clinic at 8:30 pm. I sent her with Paul while I kept Alice at home. After waiting 45 minutes, the doctor examined her, concluded that nothing was actually wrong except that she had a fever (104). They made her strip down and take some Ibuprofen stuff, but after waiting 30 minutes, her temperature was just as high. The doctor said she was obligated to send us to the hospital, but we decided she’d be better off actually sleeping in her own bed. When Paul finally got all the paperwork done and left for the bus, the sign said he had a 48 minute wait for the next bus. So, unbeknownst to me, he decided to RUN HOME pushing Rachel in the stroller over 2.5 miles-including a jog through the park. At night. In the freezing cold. This is what dad’s do.
Anyway, they made it home ok, and Rachel’s fever had gone down a little in the morning. Paul kept the girls at home, so I got to go to Stake Conference all by myself! I felt bad that he wasn’t able to come, but I was singing in the choir, and I wasn’t going to bring Rachel out if I didn’t have to. It turned out to be the best part of my birthday-just listening to the meeting by myself. I got more out of that session than all other church meetings of the last two years combined. Boom. Elder Halstrom of the 70 spoke about living in Hawaii, Utah, England, Japan, India, and visiting Korea, Africa, and many other places. He pointed out that our culture and family traditions are beautiful and important, but when those clash, we come together to cultivate our “Eternal Culture” as a children of God. That is what makes Zion. And there’s no room for being offended or abandoning ship just because we think or feel or “were raised” differently. That is not living our Godly Culture. It was really powerful to sit in a room with people from literally all over the world and hear what I’ve known my whole life but never had to really practice until now. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to live here and experience SO much diversity coming together to create a unified body of saints. It isn’t always easy, but it is BEAUTIFUL to be a part of.
Sunday afternoon, we went up to the Mace’s for a little birthday party/catch up session! We had been looking forward to this for a while, so we were determined to go in spite of Rachel’s fever. She seemed to be a bit better, anyway… But when we got to the Mace’s, she was ROASTING, and when I went to grab the medicine from the nappy bag, I realized it was sitting at home. The. Whole. Bag. So, we tried to eat dinner (which was AMAZING), but before we could even get to dessert, Becky had to drive me to the store to get nappies, wipes, medicine, and bottle of some kind for Rachel. Paul gave Rachel a blessing while we were gone, and she eventually perked up. We had a great time playing Apples to Apples, singing around the piano, and since Rachel wasn’t up to being entertaining, the Mace’s passed the time by making fun of Americans and how whiny I am on my blog. (haha!) It was so fun to have a nice big Sunday dinner with our “family”, and they were so cute to have a little cake for me with candles and everything! I started tearing up. Jonathan gave me a huge chocolate starter kit-lots of different bars for me to try. And Bev gave me a copy of “Watching the English” which is a book explaining what all the British culture-isms are about. I’ve already learned so much reading about the weather! Haha! How thoughtful is that?? They do so much for us. I just love the Maces!
Rachel continued her fever through Tuesday, so we watched lots of Toy Story and drank juice and smoothies on the couch. As much as I hate it when she’s poorly, I love how cuddly she is. It’s nice that she wants her Mommy.
Wednesday, Paul got a nice long break from rehearsal, so he came home and we all went to the store together. It was a GORGEOUS sunny day, so instead of taking our connecting bus, we decided to walk. Who would have I thought I’d get so much joy out of just walking to the store with my family? It’s the simple things.
Thursday, we had a great time doing aerobics and chatting at playgroup. We finished off the day with a great dinner-Sister Carter and Sister Steward brought Anna with them. Anna is from China, but she’s studying in Birmingham and joined the church here a few months ago. She is incredible. We had such a sweet evening talking with her about family and faith. She brought us a beautiful bouquet of flowers and kept saying how excited she was to be eating with a family! We love her.
Paul doesn’t start until 2 on Fridays, so we went on a walk to the park and fed the ducks. We had a nice time, in spite of the cold, but we had a really awkward experience: As we were getting into the park, a young girl-maybe 10 years old-came up to us and started asking for money. She was speaking Russian or Polish and had a whole rehearsed speech. Another little girl came and joined her. She also had a little speech, but we didn’t have any money with us. After we convinced them we actually didn’t have money, they ran ahead of us to the swings and started playing and laughing. A few minutes later, a woman on the bench across the way called them over to her. The girls emptied their coin purse into the woman’s bag, and they all took off as a police man started making his way over. It was like a modern day Fagan from Oliver Twist! Paul and I were absolutely flabbergasted. Of course I know stuff like that happens, but it’s pretty shocking to see it all with your own eyes. I still can’t process it. It’s just crazy and makes me really sad. That’s all I know right now.
We had a fun opportunity on Saturday to get dolled up and go to a wedding! Rita and Bob are a sweet, older couple who are both high functioning with some special needs. They decided to get married, and Leah basically planned the whole thing for them. They got married in the chapel, and Bishop Ward officiated. Paul was the photographer, and he did a great job. The whole thing was sweet and lovely, and we loved making their day special. I love weddings. They always remind me of my wedding day, which was probably the single best day of my life.
Sunday was fun! I got to do my first Singing Time with Primary. I had forgotten how much I love working with kids!! I have to brush up on my teaching skills, but I can already tell, I’m going to love this assignment. Also, we had Austin and Callie Cornilles over for dinner. They’re a cute American couple who moved in about the same time we did. They are darling. Glad we could get to know them a little better.
Rachel’s Corner:
After Jersey (Christmas time), we struggled to help Rachel stay in bed. We tried tying her loosely to the bed, and she figured out how to get out of it. We had to take the doorknob off of the inside of her door so she couldn’t leave. Well, it trained her pretty well. But then when we returned the doorknob, she still won’t open the door. She just stayed in her room and screamed until we went to her, and the whining/crying/screaming carried into the rest of our lives. I guess I unknowingly made her feel trapped and helpless. She probably also resented that she had to sleep by herself while Alice was in our room, so she started asking us to stay with her until she fell asleep. Well, after many nights of struggling, I felt like we should put the girls in the same room. Not that it would turn out well, but it was worth a try anyway, right? Well, it turns out to be the best thing we’ve done since becoming parents! Alice is learning how to sleep 6-8 hours a night (sometimes she needs help putting her binkie back in), and Rachel is a whole new girl. Rachel now wakes up happy in the morning, let’s herself out, and comes to find me with a smile on her face. The one time she woke up in the night, she let herself out and came into our bedroom, but she didn’t make any noise. She creeped in and stood against the wall by the door for 25 minutes. TWENTY FIVE MINUTES she just stared at us silently in the dark. Eventually, she walked over to Paul and touched his arm, so he pretended to wake up and put her back to sleep. He had been watching her the whole time. I was semi-awake, feeding Alice, and we were both trying to show her that we all just sleep at night. Hilarious and creepy. Haha!
All About Alice:
Learned how to roll from her back to her tummy all by herself!
Loves to be held upright and look around the house
We weighed her on our bathroom scale three different times which averaged about 22.4 pounds. WHAT??? What 4 month old baby weighs 22 pounds? Rachel is 2 and weighs 27 with a full diaper.
Has the cutest laugh! She thinks Rachel and her daddy are especially funny!
Sunbathing at the park :)
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