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

Today is the day. September 29 th was the date I tacked up on my "vision board" beneath the picture of a cute, cuddly, healthy baby so many months ago. It was my goal for carrying this pregnancy to term after experiencing premature labor with my last two pregnancies. So it looks like I have been successful, and now she can come on anytime. This probably means she will hang out for another 4 weeks just so I don't get any false notions that I have control over anything. For the last few nights I have dreamed that I have had the baby. In my dreams I still don't know what her name is or how the delivery is carried out. It always seems to happen rather effortlessly (which is how I know it is just a dream). This morning I dreamed that I gave birth and forgot to call my mother. Horror of horrors! We had called all of George's immediate family, but when I arrived home from the hospital with little what's-her-name, I realized that no one had called my mom. I remember ...

I vaguely remember having lots of energy last week. That all seems to have fizzled, and did I mention that I am enormous and very well acquainted with our new baby's feet, knees, elbows and head? Luckily (and I am knocking wood as I type this), she seems to like to sleep when I sleep for the most part, so I am actually getting halfway decent rest at night. In fact, every morning, when I wake up, I very gracefully roll over and give her a little nudge, and she begins to roll around herself. She and I are cool like that. Emma has had a big weekend full of Brownie outings. Yesterday she went to a big Centenary Celebration in honor of the fact that Brownies have been active in the area for 100 years now. Scads of Rainbows, Brownies and Girl Guides all hiked up to the top of Garth Mountain for a picnic, songs and celebration. (You may know Garth Mountain from the Hugh Grant film The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain .) According to the Brownie leader, none of the ...

This is what 36+ weeks pregnant looks like. I'm not sure if I can accurately describe how it feels, but I know the end is near. My energy levels have been surprisingly good for the last couple of weeks, and I have been trying to sort out some business that I don't want to have to bother with when we have a new baby (like having the car inspected and serviced). I am doing my best to enjoy these last few weeks... the calm before the storm, as they say. I also find that I am savouring quiet moments and find that I have little tolerance for television and other over-stimulating media. Books and sunshine seem to be calling my name these last few weeks. I appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers and well-wishes. The baby is still being naughty (as my friend Caroline would say) and remaining in the 'wrong' position. She gave me some fantastic kicks in my nether regions this morning while I was out shopping just to remind me that she is in charge here. I am still hold...

After a few days of the sniffles, Sophie had an unfortunate incident with a coughing spell gone wrong yesterday morning. It resulted in a good bit of the porridge she had eaten for breakfast revisiting us all. So she got to have the day off... even though, apart from the aforementioned porridge puking, she felt perfectly fine. Emma, of course, took a turn toward the gloomy side when she heard Sophie would be home with me all day, and she decided it was going to be the worst day of school ever. I'm sure she imagined Sophie and me taking a day trip to Paris while she sat in class and did her spellings. Instead of Paris, I had to drag Sophie to Asda to do the weekly shopping. She was about as cheerful as a girl can be as she skipped up and down the aisles in her school uniform singing, "Everyone else is in school except me!!" She also persuaded me to "go upstairs" in Asda where we couldn't help but buy a "Mummy's Little Pumpkin" outfit fo...

I saw my obstetric consultant at the hospital today, and every time I think about it, I have a little chuckle. The doctor is very laid back and British. I have been rather concerned and puzzled by the fact that this baby has been breech for many weeks now. The fact that she is breech may just be a blessing since I haven't had any issues with premature labour this time around. My consultant took my word for it when I told her the baby was still head up. She said, "This is your third baby; you would know." I was relieved when she did actually put her hands on me and confirm that yes, she thought it felt breech as well. A very apologetic male, med. student also had a go feeling me up since he had never felt a breech one before. I really expected that at 36 weeks, my doctor would spring into action and set the wheels of my birth plan in motion, but this was not at all the case. She was not concerned. She said the baby could very well turn still and that she would ju...

I am wondering if the songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will ever be out of my head! The soundtrack has been playing in my house and in my car for weeks now, and we finally got to go and see the show live on Saturday. Emma and Sophie absolutely loved it...as did their parents. Also, since the 6 week healing period on her ear piercing had elapsed, Emma got to take her own money and choose some new earrings. She bought three pairs in the shop: ladybugs, turtles and rainbows, and she looks fabulous. She was also brave enough to approach a live statue in the city centre when we were there on Saturday... Even on the best of days, Emma is still Emma, and don't get me wrong, we desperately love Emma, but she continues to struggle with feeling misunderstood and victimized by the world. On the way home on the train on Saturday, she crawled under the seat to retrieve a ticket she had dropped. She crawled under the seat just as the train pulled into our station and th...

Ok... here comes another entry in which I attempt to re-create a funny conversation I had with one of my children... Yesterday on the way to school, Sophie told me, "Harry Lynch doesn't really want to play with me anymore." Me: Oh, that must make you feel very sad. Soph: Yeah, he only wants to play with other boys now. Me: Yes, sometimes boys do that when they are young. They decide they would just rather play with boys. Then in a few years they decide they really like girls again. You know it's nothing to do with you. Soph: Yes, I know. I'm fabulous. Me: Right, well, you could have a chat with him to tell him that you miss playing with him and ask if there's a reason he doesn't want to play anymore. Soph: Yes, I will get on that today. AFTER SCHOOL that same day... Me: Did you have your chat with Harry today? Soph: Yes Me: How did it go? Soph: Not very well... (At this point Emma interrupted us with some news about her day, so I never actually got the det...

One of these days I'm sure I will be furiously blogging again, but lately I don't seem to be doing anything very furiously. I am 35 weeks along in my pregnancy, and apparently looking "cooked" according to the other mums at school. "How much longer have you got to go?" seems to be the most popular question...as if I know the answer to that one! I really have no idea. When I was pregnant with Sophie, I just knew I wouldn't make it much farther than 36 weeks, but this time around, things are entirely different. This little one has her feet comfortably wedged over my pelvic bones and her head lodged stubbornly beneath my ribs. She doesn't appear ready to emerge any time soon. You wouldn't think that we were preparing for a new baby by the way we are packing the activities in lately. I have been busy finishing off my term as PTA chairperson and am hoping to successfully pass the job on to someone new this Thursday evening at the Annual General Meeti...

My pregnancy has taken over my brain and my blog. Blogging isn't happening as regularly these days simply because I am big and tired and a bit uninspired, but all is well. I saw the community midwife this morning, and she confirmed what I already knew...the baby is still breech. I am trying to maintain positive thinking. There is still time for her to turn, so hopefully she will somersault soon. Sophie has been cheer leading to her through my skin, "Baby, get your head down! Head down! Feet up, babe! And STOP kicking my mom in her platter ." She means 'bladder,' of course, but the baby doesn't know the difference, and apparently she's already not into obeying her big sister. She hasn't budged from this head-up position in over a month... but we are maintaining that positive attitude! I had coffee this morning at a friend's house with several other local mums, and it was really lovely...and not just because she served carrot cake (which t...

Last week before the girls went back to school, one of them made a rather obvious observation: "We haven't been following our family rules very well lately." This girl was right. The boredom of rainy summer days and being stuck inside had brought out the worst in us. On this particular day there had been fussing and fighting galore combined with lots of ignoring of mom's instructions...which frequently led to mom... um... shouting... just a little. Our family rules are called such since we all sat down as a family and generated "rules" that we all thought were important for parents and kids at our house. They are as follows: No hurting each other. Listen to each other. Tell the truth. Respect each other's things. No shouting, whining, begging or stropping. George came up with the idea of having individual jars to encourage us all to be more mindful of our rules (and he wasn't even the elementary school teacher in the family). The concept is similar t...

The pumpkin plants in our back patio have grown very quickly to resemble something from a horror film. We hardly have any patio left. If little Bill Cosby were here, he would undoubtedly be smearing Jell-o on the kitchen floor to deter their efforts to attack us! The photograph I took below with Sophie doesn't really accurately portray how monstrous the plants have become. They pompously sprawl across the patio as if they own the place. We are optimistically looking forward to a radiant crop next month. We currently have blossoms and tiny yellow fruits... so time will tell what these prodigious plants can produce! Today was the first day back at school for the kids here. Emma returned at the end of the day with a full-on British accent and (as usual) plenty to say. Sophie also had a great day and said she enjoyed making a collage with her very nice teacher, Mrs. Bale. I, of course, enjoyed a little time to myself today... well, sort of to myself. I do have this constant companion ...

Yesterday I unexpectedly had a chat with Emma about same sex marriage. It might be more accurate to say that she had a chat with me. I generally try to avoid initiating any conversations about these emotionally charged social issues with my children when they're so young. Life is complicated enough when you're trying to work out why a turtleneck jumper isn't the best thing to wear over your bathing suit when you're going to the beach. But, of course, anytime they have questions for me, I am happy (usually) to answer them as age-appropriately as possible. Last week, for example, at the Methodist holiday club, several of the youth leaders were shocked by how "in-the-know" Emma was about my pregnancy. Apparently most 7-year- olds don't know about breech presentation and hemorrhoids and such, but we talk at our house... especially Emma... about everything. So back to the whole Prop 8 issue... It's funny. None of us batted an eyelash when Sophie was runnin...