Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

I had my little sick buddy at home with me again today. This means that my little sick buddy got to accompany me to the hospital for my 24 week scan. Sophie was as good as gold, and the scan looked great. (And yes, to answer your and Emma's question, the baby still appears to be a girl.) I think I may have actually met my consultant today too, but I was in and out of her office so quickly that I forgot to ask her for her name. Assuming she was my consultant, I was impressed by the fact that she appeared to have genuinely studied my file before I entered the room. So instead of asking me why I was there, she began by telling me what her plans were for my care. This was a very nice change. I think, based on my history, we were both expecting my scan to show some change, but since it didn't (and that's a good thing), she sent me on my way and instructed me to "stay pregnant." I intend to follow those orders to the best of my abilities. I'll be back again...

Summertime has come to Wales, and I am enjoying it for more than one reason. Of course the main reason is that sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, but also the arrival of summer means I am progressing further along in my pregnancy and things seem to be going well. With every week that passes, I feel more and more confident. I have even bought a few items of baby gear (since all of ours has been left in the US... nevermind though, baby shopping isn't torture!) On Saturday evening we joined some friends at our local-ish pub and had a meal outside while the kids played in the garden. It was a completely lovely evening, and made me happy that there are only three more weeks left in school for my two little duckies. I am looking forward to more relaxed, summer nights when we aren't scrambling to bed when the sun is still up. On Sunday morning we decided to have church at the local fruit farm. Emma, Sophie and I had a perfectly lovely girls' day out and returned with a heap ...

Today was "Show Off Day" in Emma and Sophie's classes, so I got to spend this sunny morning with my girls in their school environment. Emma showed me all of the work she's been doing. Her artwork and writing are so impressive. There is definitely room for another writer in the family. I suppose we should attribute her artistic skills to Mimi. Emma's drawings are so detailed and fantastic. I am excited about how she will develop these gifts in the years to come. Sophie also took me through her classroom where I couldn't help but notice her lovely photograph hung up at the front of the room since she was the Superstar of the Day! Sophie also showed me her tray full of excellent work. Her reading is coming along really well and earned her a reading trophy recently. There was definitely cause to "show off" today. Sophie also took me into the infants' garden where there are lots of flowers as well as apples and tomatoes growing. She likes to go out an...

One of the best things about having children is that you are allowed to see life through their eyes. The things you thought were just ordinary turn out to be truly exciting. I love the fact that my kids get so excited about hot chocolate and picnics in the back garden. Yesterday, we had to run out to the post office at our local mini Tesco, and while we were there I noticed that the blackberries were on sale. I sent each girl to get a shopping basket (since that's the only way to be fair), and let them each carry a punnet of blackberries. We also picked up a few other things like curry sauce and bramley apple sausages which thrilled my two little moppets to no end. When we got home I washed the blackberries and mixed them with some capped strawberries. I called the girls into the kitchen for this snack, and they were downright giddy. While I emptied the dishwasher, I listened to their ever-so-civilized conversation about how lovely the berries were. Sophie couldn't beli...

Sophie has been super excited about Father's Day for a while now. For the last two weeks every paper and drawing she has brought home from school has been specified "FOR DAD" and has been placed in a special secret hiding place ready for today. So this morning it came as no surprise that Sophie and Emma both were in our bed before 7:00, ready to get the Father's Day festivities going. So much for a Father's Day lie in! Just after 7:00, Sophie brought up the presents and cards. Nothing extreme. George is not terribly bothered with presents so we typically get him some nice chocolates and a "Dad" t-shirt. The girls had also compiled a list of things they love about their dad. The list included lighthearted things like "Dad's fantastic pancakes" and "booty stamps" (best not to ask), but it also included some slightly more profound items such as: "Dad cheers us up when we're sad" and "He talks to us about imp...

Today was Sports Day at Radyr Primary, and luckily after a very wet Wednesday, the weather turned out to be decent. Neither Emma nor Sophie seem to enjoy the races very much at this point, but both did well on the field games and seemed to have a good time of it... Above Sophie is pictured playing "Foxes and Geese." She was one of the foxes and captured plenty of geese. Here is Emma jumping through some hoops...literally. Emma did manage to pick up third place in the javelin throw and earn some points for Red House. I wish Sophie's eyes were open in this one!! Here she is pictured with her best boy friend, Harry. The two of them sat together and chatted in between all of the races and games. Go, Sophie, go!! The girls at the end of the morning.... Sophie was not at all pleased that I was going home and she had to go back to class.

Yesterday Emma's school had the big music assembly for upcoming juniors. Emma will officially move from "infants" to "juniors" next year, and this means (among other things) she can start learning an instrument in school. She had already told me that she wasn't interested in playing "anything that you have to blow in." Her instrument of choice was the violin. Here is where I reveal what a terrible mother I am because have you ever heard a 7 year old try to play the violin? It is something I don't think I can cope with on top of the sleep deprivation that comes along with having a screaming newborn in the house. So her Dad and I have talked her into having a go with the guitar instead. If she is still gung ho about the violin in a couple more years, we will oblige, but for now, I think the guitar will be much more tolerable. On another note...when I picked the kids up from school today, it was pouring down with rain. When we got home, So...

Yes, I am nearly 22 weeks pregnant and well over the halfway mark. You can ask any pregnant lady, and she will tell you that 40 weeks is actually 2 weeks beyond 9 months. As that curly headed kid in our world history class in high school would have asked, "Do we get credit for that??" I am very aware of the fact that I am not alone in my body any more. This morning George laughed at me when he rolled over in bed and I mumbled, "Hey, don't bump into us ." I am now a "we," for sure. A few weeks ago at the library, I read Sophie a really lovely book called There's a House Inside my Mummy , in which a little boy relates his perception of having a pregnant mum and waiting to meet his new baby sibling. Our favourite part was when the boy wished mum's "house" had windows so that he could see what that baby was doing in there. I could definitely relate to that. Now that she has gotten bigger, I am constantly feeling her movements and...

"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of the week." --William Dement My pregnancy with Sophie happened to coincide with a "Dreams and Spirituality" class at our church back home. I have always been a vivid dreamer, and the class interested me even without the added benefit of all of the pregnancy hormones. The class examined the idea of dreams in a Biblical context, and we all kept dream journals and had a go at interpreting what our dreams from each week might mean. As the only pregnant lady in the class, I was, of course, the star pupil, and if you know me, you know I didn't mind that a bit. The class instructor often made photocopies of the dreams I had written about for the class to dissect. I was fascinated to discover that there were indeed recurrent themes and archaic symbols parading through my dreams every evening. I never saw anything like Jacob's stairway to heaven, but it was all very interesting n...

I have come to truly appreciate the fact that life is complicated when your name is Emma Carson. You must contend with a constantly whirring brain and the fact that parents and teachers are constantly (it seems) trying to "rule" you. Emma's current teacher tells me that at school she is very quiet. To digress slightly, I remember her nursery teacher telling me that they were concerned about Emma's verbal development since she rarely spoke in the morning class for 2 and 3-year- olds . I was shocked since she never stopped talking at home. I even took video of her at home and showed it to her teacher, the rather severe Mrs. Walsh, who was doubly shocked to see Emma jabbering on about heaven only knows what. It seems that things haven't changed all that much since Emma was two. She goes off to school and saves up all of her words; then as soon as we get in the car in the afternoon, they erupt and continue to flow until her eyes eventually close at night. Seriou...

Today I went in to the hospital to meet with my consultant...only it wasn't my consultant, of course, it was another lovely lady consultant from India. I am beginning to think that all of the OB consultants in the UK might be from India. Not a problem, merely an observation. I am actually starting to wonder if I will ever meet "my" consultant or if she even exists since her name (Ms. Arnold) doesn't sound even a little bit Indian. Maybe she will pop her head in shortly after I give birth to a healthy baby, introduce herself and then take credit for the entire affair. These are the things you think about when sitting in the waiting area of the Ante-natal clinic for at least an hour. Actually, the first thing I thought upon settling into the waiting area was, "Good Lord, did a truck carrying miserable-looking ladies just drop off a load here?" Forty five minutes later, I was one of those miserable-looking ladies myself. Come on!! My appointment was at 10:00!! ...

Whoops! Forgot to post these photos as part of my last blog. In an attempt to convince Sophie that ANY healthy baby (boy or girl) is worth celebrating, we baked a little chocolate cake when we got home yesterday. That certainly lifted her spirits... Then she and Emma decorated it with a bazillion chocolate stars and Smarties. Here they are posing in the back garden with their creation. So rest assured there is a lot of festive cheer at our house. Hooray for little girls!!

Yesterday was the day of the big scan. Emma was with her class on a field trip to Southerndown beach, so Sophie and George went with me to the hospital... Most importantly, everything with the baby looked good. No abnormalities were detected, so we are pleased as can be. Sophie, however, was not so pleased when no boy parts could be detected either. Her arms went crossed and bottom lip came right out when her Dad said, "It looks like it's going to be a sister. What do you think about that?" "No, I want a brother!" The lady who was doing my scan apologised repeatedly to Sophie (bless her), but after looking, she really didn't see anything that would indicate we are having a boy. After the fact, I realized that my children and family had me quite convinced it was a boy because I am still trying to process it. We all had boy names picked out. (Sophie was pulling for Leo or Harry.) But we haven't really thought about girls' names. There is obviously stil...

"Does Jesus mind that Muslims don't believe He's God's son?" My stumbling response that basically boiled down to: I don't think we as humans can understand God's mercy or his knowledge about people's hearts, and it might as well have been: Duh, I don't know. Also how about, "Mom, Jesus and God aren't the same person, right? I mean I'm not George, but I am his child." Her questions are way above my pay grade here! How does one explain the concept of the Trinity to a seven year old. I'd be more inclined to ask her to explain it to me. She seems to have a much better grasp on these things than I do. I got in way over my head when trying to explain Judaism, Christianity and Islam to her. Throw in polytheism, and we were drowning. I could tell things weren't going well by the end of it when she said, "What's up with Moses? I don't think I believe in him at all!" I joke, of course, because the discussion wasn...

So here's what I'm wondering... Since having two kids, it seems as though they very politely take turns having drama. The week before last, Sophie was a right mess. She was grouchy, upset and tired all of the time and even hit the roof when I called her feet "big." "My feet are NOT big" she snarled, "They are little and cute!!" It doesn't take a genius to understand her issues as the current baby of the family with an ever-growing, pregnant mama. Sophie is generally not a complicated girl. A week off from school and some good doses of one-on-one time with mom seem to have cured her (for now). Of course, now that she's all hunky-dory, Emma starts up with her own drama about feeling misunderstood, over-burdened and over-'ruled'. (See yesterday's blog post.) Back to my initial wondering....what happens when there are three kids in the house? Will there still only be one squeaky wheel to deal with at a time, or am I in for a whole n...

It's the last day of the holidays before the kids go back to school tomorrow, and today I have been listening to Emma bemoan the fact the no one (especially me) understands her. This is mainly the result of my telling her she needs to clean up her dump of a bedroom and get rid of some stuff. Emma, who has always had a flair for the dramatic, has taken the opportunity to thoroughly expound upon how unfair her life is. Some of the highlights of our discussion included the following Emma quotes: "You just don't understand me!! No one understands me!! I just wish you could go inside my head and read everything that is written there!! [to herself] That would actually be a really LONG read." "Mom, will you just let me drive my own life!!!??" "Mom, you really need a lesson on playing, and you're about to get one!!" (in response to my asking for about the third time, 'What on earth do you even do with THIS (random piece of junk)?') I canno...