Happy Birthday Alison!!

Thankful Thursday

For anyone who knows my Dad it's probably not surprising to learn that 48 hours into his trip to Scotland he and NBH started building a fence and gate. When we bought our house there was a fence along the back of our property and along the left side, but not on the right and not along the front sides.

Now Emma can run around in the backyard without a leash and more importantly have her morning constitutional without NBH needing to take her for a walk.

Thank you NBH and Daddy!

Wordless Wednesday

Swaddle Fail

Wordless Wednesday

NotBlondeHusband and I have decided we need to take all the corny/cliched baby pics, like this classic:

"Baby in the laundry basket"

What are some other ideas we should try?

Happy Valentine's Day

(Click here to enlarge)

Grandpas are comfy

Blondie Boy's enjoying spending time with his Grandpa John who is over visiting from Ohio; here they are taking a nap together this morning.

Beautiful Blogger Award

Thank you to the lovely Mrs. Bro who awarded me with this award. Y'all should go check out her blog and leave her a comment about how wicked cute her boy Thomas is!

Here are the rules for the award:

~Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.

~Copy the award and paste it to your blog.

~Tell us 7 interesting facts about yourself.

~Nominate 7 bloggers that you love and link to their blog.

1) I have elf ears (one is more pointy than the other) and I think it's pretty cute that I've passed it down to Blondie Boy and he has one, too!

2) I was in the Cincinnati Ballet Company's performance of the Nutcracker when I was 6.

3) I was the first ever Women's Studies graduate from the University of Cincinnati.

4) Jerry Springer sang "Puff the Magic Dragon" to my sister and I when we were little.

5) I kept my belly-button ring in my entire pregnancy and didn't take it out until I was literally in the operating room to have my c-section.

6) I'm right handed, but can only snap with my left hand.

7) I met Mark Paul Gosselaar at Kmart in the 5th grade and couldn't speak for an hour afterwards.

I award:

Mo: http://happiercows.blogspot.com/

Lorry: http://www.alteredsky.net/blog/

Shell: http://jmrockhill.blogspot.com/

Liz: http://itbeliz.blogspot.com/

Jessica: http://www.lovelyjubblylondon.com/

Andrea: http://andreaythomas.blogspot.com/

Cat: http://oldeggsandham.blogspot.com/

You'll be my American Boy

Blondie Boy's Passport and US Birth Certificate came today. As you can tell he was super excited about it.


My favorite bit though was an accompanying information document which had this at the very end:

Running for President or for Congress

Legal scholars disagree whether someone born overseas to a US parent9s) is considered a "natural born Citizen," one of the Constitutional requirements to become President of the United States. The courts have never made an definitive ruling on this section of the Constitution. One U.S. Senator introduced a bill in October 2004 to clarify what this term actually means. If this bill becomes law, your child would definitively be considered a "natural born Citizen" of the U.S. and therefore could conceivably run for the White House some day. As an American citizen, your child can run for Congress, even though born overseas, but he or she would still have to meet the Constitutional residency and age requirements to run for the House or Senate.

I love that the Embassy is concerned for my son's future political ambitions :)

Music Monday

One of Blondie Boy's favorite things to do (or at least we think) is a little something I'll call surf and sing. He sit up against my knees/legs and we sing and dance whatever songs I know the words to on the TV as I channel surf between our music channels. I tend to only know the choruses to a lot of the Top 40, so we have lots of mini-medleys.

There are some interesting videos/songs out right now and it's really creepy how many are on a multitude of channels at the exact same time. I tend to like VH1 Classic because they play lots of 80's even though I find it scary that 80's is considered classic.

We've also come across a new video from my favorite Scottish band, Biffy Clyro:



They aren't really a huge band here, but I love lead singer Simon's voice, but then again I have a thing for guys with an Ayrshire accent I guess!

What's your favorite song right now and who are your favorite hidden gem of a band/singer? We are always looking for new songs to sing and dance along to together.

One Month

Age - one month

Weight - He last got weighed last week and was 8lb 6oz. We are between Health Visitors so no one came out this week, but I'm sure he weighs more.

Height - 21"

Sleeping habit - He's starting to sleep less during the day

Eating habits - He was eating every 4 hours, but in the past 2 days he wants to eat every 3 or so.

Favorite activity - Storytime with Dad and Singing/Dancing with Mom.

Milestones - First proper smile (captured above).

Firsts - "Proper" car trip to Edinburgh to register his birth and apply for his Passport.

Wordless Wednesday

All American Boy

Okay, he's actually 50% American boy...

Today we drove to Edinburgh to visit the US Embassy and register Blondie Boy's birth, apply for his US passport and social security number. It was snowing pretty heavily when we left at 9:30am and after some stand-still traffic we almost turned around but decided to keep going.


We waited about an hour, signed the forms we'd already sent in and that was that. Blondie Boy's passport should arrive in about 7-10 days. All in all it cost $150 for his Americanness, plus an additional £30 for the parking ticket we got because all the parking outside the embassy was residential permits only.


Blondie Boy was really good at the embassy, but had a screaming fit in the car as we drove into Edinburgh; I guess he just has similar thoughts about it as his Mom and Dad :) Now we just need to mail off his British passport application and he'll be good to travel where he pleases! (As a dual citizen he has to enter/leave the US on his American passport and enter/leave the UK on his British passport.)

I could *technically* say Blondie Boy had his first trip to the US, since the embassy is American soil, but I think that's crap. I always hated in college when people would say they'd been to Germany or France because they'd been at an embassy. Doesn't count in my book!

Ask and you shall receive...

Thanks to everyone who posted question in my delurking post; hopefully you're happy with my answers!

SaveThePolarBears! asked...
What's the best thing about living in another country?


Right now it has to be the fact that I am taking a year off in maternity leave and have no bills I have to pay off from Blondie Boy's birth.


What do you miss the most about your original home?


Friends and family, but after that Cincinnati food. Cincinnati has a lot of distinct food that you can only get in southwest Ohio like Skyline, Izzy's, Frisch's, LaRosa's, Montgomery Inn, UDF, Graeter's, etc.



How did you cope with the anxiety of waiting to go into labor?


Honestly I wasn't that anxious. I'm someone who doesn't get excited about vacations until I'm actually at the airport.

Jennifer asked...
will you be raising Blondie Boy as Jewish/ Catholic/ Agnostic?

Blondie Boy won't be raised any religion, but we will raise him with Jewish cultural traditions. For me being Jewish doesn't have to have anything to do with religion.

Will the wee dude have a bris?

No.

Will you raise him as Scottish - American?

He will be Scottish and American in both citizenship and culture.

Do you think you will stay in the UK now that we have a wean?

Our living in the UK is always dependant on jobs; if either of us were ever offered jobs in the US it would be something we'd both be open to, but right now we are happy here.

Will you find it strange that he will have an accent?

Probably, but I've been told I have an affected accent, so I can't judge!

Alie asked...
are you telling your son on a regular basis what a wonderful and amazing person his Aunt Alie is???????

He's been enjoying reading about a curious little monkey courtesy of his Aunt Alie.

MrsC asked...
What was your fav part about being pregnant?

When Blondie Boy would kick NotBlondeHusband in the head.

and ur least fav?

SPD and crutches.

What's you fav thing about being a mommy so far?

Eskimo kisses and the look of amazement that results.

Voyage asked...
Where did you get that awesome bagpipe with menorah picture from?

This e-card my Mom sent me a few years back:

What is it like being a Jew in Scotland?

I found Hanukkah cards for the first time in 5 years at John Lewis this year which was nice! My biggest problem is people who refuse to wish people "Happy Holidays" and insist that if they did it would be undermining British culture. Umm, no it's called being inclusive. Otherwise I'm not the best person to ask because I don't attend services or practice religiously.

Lorry asked...
If you were a tree, what kind would you be?

A Joshua Tree. Actually I have no idea, I just say that because of the ridiculous comment John Mayer made in Rolling Stone.


Where do you see yourself in five years?


I don't know! I'm really horrible at visualizing the future.


If a train were heading to Cleveland at 40 mph…


I'd feel really bad for the passengers going to the mistake on the lake.

Janine asked...
Is Motherhood what you expected it to be?

Again, I'm crap at visualizing things and had no expectations. Right now he pretty much eats, poops/pees, sleeps and repeats so not much there!

Laura McIntyre asked...
how are you handling all the recent changes?


I'm lucky that my husband works from home so he is here to help. Things are different, but it's a totally new routine rather than trying to adjust an old one if that makes any sense.


Is it what you thought it would be?


See above...


Noodles asked...
Curious how you thought the experience went in the U.K., versus in the U.S.?


I've never given birth in the US, but I'm going to say the biggest difference was probably that I was on a ward after my section (before I had the private room) and that I've come away with no bills to pay. Also the midwife came to our house for 10 days after Blondie Boy was born to check on him and myself. She actually came longer than that because his belly-button was stubborn in making it's appearance. I'm pretty sure you don't get home visits as standard in the US. Also all my prescriptions (pain meds, whatever) are still free until Blondie Boy turns one.


Confusha asked...
Just wondering, is this hospital Public or Private?


Public. You'd have to pay to give birth in a private hospital.


Petite_cou asked...

What accent do you think he will have when he is older?


I guess a lot will depend on where he goes to school, but I imagine he will have a bit of a transatlantic twang.


What accent would you love to hear?

I'm happy for him to have a Scottish or American accent.