Avenue Lodge

That's the name of the building of flat is in. Sounds so cozy, doesn't it? Well, I'm writing this as I sit in Otie's car seat in the middle of an empty room. We've moved in and our air shipment arrived with clothes, random curtains that I didn't mean to take from our house, Oties scooter and some blankets. Here are a few pics taken with our laptop.

Meal time on the floor--Otie calls it his restaurant

Oh speaking of cooking. I spent an hour trying to get our stove top to work yesterday. I thought it was a normal electric kind but it kept flashing saying there was no pan on the "hot plate" even though the plan was clearly there. So I was trying all sorts of tricks to push the pan down hard and doing anything to make the stove realize the pan was there. Well, after finding the manual, it's an induction stovetop that will only work with "ferromagnetics or high quality stainless steel pans". Great.

He's just mad because I'm touching his obedient chart, he was actually quite proud he'd filled it all the way up. I HAD to try something new to get this child to listen to me when we were out and about town. It's actually really working. He loves earning a sticker. I'm thinking of copyrighting this version I made and selling it at scrapbook stores--I'm so crafty.

Milly is walking everywhere now and she thinks she can ride a scooter. It's hilarious. She gets desperately upset when Otis takes it away from her.

Me and Otis usually fight over who gets to sit in his car seat when we're home.

Milly loves this card board box

Milly taking a nap on our luxurious bed

Missing our neighbors today

Otis is missing his best friends next door. He still asks me every day if he can go play at Eli's. We miss them!

We ll went up to Newpark before we moved for swimming and fun. Milly was the one lucky lady among all these little boys.

Otie swim lessons 2011

I put together some clips of Otie's swimming lessons this year, mostly for him to watch. He loves swimming and it was so fun to watch his progress. This video may seem like nothing special, but it might be the most technically advanced thing I have ever done- so I don't know if I'm more proud of Otis in the video, or myself for putting it together...probably Otis. Oh and I had to put it to his favorite song in the world, he's probably watched this a million times now.

Milly tuns 1!!

I do not know how Milly's first year has already come and gone. She's my favorite daughter for sure.

Thanks to my mom bringing a party and carrot cake over, Milly's brithday wasn't completely forgotten in the midst of the craziness of moving.

Some things I want to remember about Milly right now:

• 3 teeth (2 bottom, 1 top)
• snuggler, will climb into any adult's lap
• waves hello
• gvies the best open mouth kisses
• says a few words, but rarely- "mama", "dada", "uh-oh" and recently "o-dee!!"
• will eat anything you give her
• great sleeper
• thinks Otis is the funniest person on earth and has the cutest laugh
• loves her binki
• loves peek-a-boo (she tries to play with people on the tube and it's fun to watch people's reaction"
• HATES the bath, but loves the swimming pool
• took her first few steps in London
• since the move to London she likes to be held all day everyday

Hippie Trip

It was amazing to go to Hawaii together without the kids. The kids were missed, but we took full advantage of reading, surfing, lounging, hiking and eating delicious, slow meals together while having a conversation. Here are all the pics from the trip in no order.

...and we're back...

This is a picture of me right now as I type this...just to give you a clear idea of how I'm doing.

Back to London. Just like the first time around, it's taking some time to adjust. Coming with two kids makes everything ALOT harder. We're happy to be back and have loved seeing old friends though. Let's just say the flight was less than pleasant and leave it at that.

Ready to check in at the airport

the good bye was not easy for the Grandmas

or Milly

It was hilarious trying to get all our luggage in

And here is a pic of the kids tonight watching trains out our window. We're staying in temporary housing in Canary Wharf. Jet lag has not been good to us- but now we've got them going to bed by 10pm so things are looking up.

So we've been staying in temporary housing for almost 2 weeks now. Our first fun surprise was that Tyler had to start work a week earlier than we had planned on so we only had 6 days to look for flats together (I still feel like a poser calling apartments flats- but that's what they're called).

We didn't find one the first week so I've had the privilige of navigating the trains and busses and seeing places alone with the 2 kids. They've been troopers...and they've spent more time in the stroller than they ever have in their lives...and they've cried...alot.

Still homeless, but at least we're together. Otis points to every single person smoking on the street (which is about 99% of people) and says, "Look mom! They're blowing Holy Smokes!" It was funny at first. But he's comepletely fascinated with cigarettes and has to ask everyone what they're doing. So awkward.