England Trip October 31, 2012

We went to England at the beginning of the month for just shy of 2 weeks.  It was such a wonderful trip.  The primary purpose of the trip was to celebrate John’s mom’s 70th and our new baby niece’s Christening, for which we were honored to be named Godparents.  We did so much that I don’t really know where to start.

We decided not to rent a car, since Michelle and James would be off work as well and we figured two cars would be enough between all of us since we’d normally be going places together.  That meant poor James was chauffeuring us here, there, and everywhere – but always with a smile, even when he was knocked out by a nasty ear and sinus infection, bless his heart.

We were fortunate that even though we were not that mobile, our friends from when we lived in Basingstoke – the Carters, Gemma, and the Roberts – were able to drive up to see us one day.  We have 5 kids + one on the way between us all, so it was a lot of fun seeing each other and the kids and catching up on everything with them.  The Carters are actually moving to Indy with Rich’s work in January, so we are so excited to be able to see them a lot more soon!  Layla was funny, because she was not too bothered about me holding Maddie most of the time, but as soon as these friends showed up with their kids she got pretty protective, not wanting Mommy to hold anyone but her.  Compounding the problem was apparently Rich and Anita’s daughter loves dark haired women (oddly, since they are all fair (I’m thinking something to do with her previous life)), so she kept wanting me to hold her.  Layla would insist on being held, too, and try to push Sophie away, but it didn’t deter Sophie.  I tried to tell them they were going to have to sort it out because they are going to be spending a lot of time together soon!

The big Christening/70th birthday party (M&M party! – Madeline and Maddie) was a great success.  Maddie was Christened in the same church we had Hayden and Layla Christened in last year, which we found out later was the church where John’s dad’s grandparents were married!  That blew my mind.  I guess it’s not AS shocking considering it’s England and they have many more historic structures than we do in America, but it’s a fairly modest sized church and I consider it an unfathomable coincidence that Hayden and Layla’s (and Maddie’s) great-great-grandparents were married there.  Anyway, Maddie did very well in the limelight, and our kids were also well behaved which we were happy about.  There were plenty of M&Ms being consumed by one Mr. Hayden, as well as cake, so by the end of the night he was literally running/dancing around in circles with some balloons on a sugar high, but I’ll take that over a meltdown, right!

We did some other fun things which I will mention but try not to go into too much detail for fear this post will be too long.  We went to a zoo with some of John’s college friends and their families, went to London with Granddad (unfortunate, rainy weather but Hayden got to see Big Ben which he has been waiting months for since it’s featured in Cars 2 which he was obsessed by all summer, and Mommy and Daddy got Pizza Express which they were happy about, plus London is so great that even if the weather doesn’t cooperate, the sites are still amazing, and last thing about it, it was Maddie’s first time out in the city and she did AMAZING – she only woke briefly to feed while we were eating and we didn’t hear a peep from her the rest of the time!), celebrated the evening of Madeline’s actual birthday in an Indian restaurant while an “Indian Elvis” entertained us, went on a grown-up night out with our friends while the kids spent the night at Camp Granddad’s (which they loved and we got glowing reports on them afterwards), went to Legoland twice (can I mention again what a trooper James is??), and sometimes in the midst of all this action, we even relaxed with MMM&J. 🙂

I think that’s enough for this post.  I left out so much stuff, I might do another one to try to capture a little more but you are released for now. 😉

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Granddad September 20, 2012

We were lucky to have a visit from Granddad recently.  Hayden was SO excited that Granddad was coming, and I think he nearly wore the poor guy out from all of the things he wanted to do with him! We did manage to do quite a lot with him.  We ate our way through the Farmer’s Market, went to a sort of auto festival thing in our town, went to a paint-your-own pottery place (Granddad made a nice plate that had the kids’ handprints on it), as well as hitting the Children’s Museum, the zoo, the Monon Center water park, lots of dinners out
, an Indians (baseball) game, a Colts preseason game, Symphony on the Prairie…. I think we did it all – I’m tired just writing about it, imagine how poor Granddad must have felt!  Any downtime we did have was filled by Hayden dragging Granddad around the house showing him all the little things he’d been dreaming of showing him since he found out he would be coming (the basement, video games, toy trains, books, etc).  Granddad was a great sport about being pulled around in so many directions, though.  We already can’t wait for the next visit! (Although I don’t think there will be anything “new” left to do 😉 )

More Funnies

I know it hasn’t been that long since I wrote a post on the funny things the kids say, but they just keep coming up with them and I don’t want to forget!

The other day I took Hayden to the dentist, and on the way home we stopped to get some gas.  We’d been in the car maybe 3 minutes when we stopped for gas, and as I’m getting out of the car Layla says (the quotes are intentional – this is word-for-word), “Let me out, I need to stretch my legs.”  She’s 2 1/3 – and yet she came up with that sentence.  She just blows me away with her language and comprehension.

Hayden was wanting me to watch him build a “camera store” with legos yesterday.  He wasn’t impressed with my lack of focus on watching him, and he told me that I have two eyes and I needed to watch him.  I think this is a take on the expression I use commonly – I only have two hands.

This picture also made me laugh.  Granddad was here recently, so here’s a nice shot of him playing with the kids.  John and I were behind them and ducked down to try to make it a nice picture of Granddad and the two kids.  This was one in a series of pictures we took, so for this one I decided to “photo bomb” it, you can see in the background.  The thing that makes me laugh is we were watching our neighbor’s dog, Macy, at the time, and I can see now that she was trying to photo bomb my photo bomb!

Granddad August 9, 2009

For Granddad’s 70th birthday his present was a surprise holiday to the US to visit us!  Michelle and Jean decided to follow to make sure he didn’t get lost at the airport so a big party of people arrived a few weeks back for a 10 night visit.  Hayden was very excited that Granddad and Auntie Michelle were coming to see it.    He was so excited that we took him to the airport to greet them, they came out of the terminal and he got really excited and ran straight past them into the area that you’re not supposed to pass!!

Hayden just loved playing with his granddad.  In the Swimming pool when we went to the Monon centre they were playing with the water shoots and then Granddad played hide and seek in the water with him which he absolutely loved.  I was impressed he got him to play with the water jets he had already been scared of them before (that’s Hayden not granddad!!)

We had a jam packed week.  We went to the lake and hung out on the boat (coldest day ever in July – more to come on that in another post) grabbed brunch in Bloomington, stopped off at the winery (booze was involved in most activities! :))  went to the monon center, fishers concert (and Hayden kept Granddad on his feet!  He had him up dancing and then running up and down in between everybody!! It’s the most relaxing concert I’ve been to with him – I just put my feet up and sipped my cold beer!!), children’s museum, cool creek nature trials, Nascar at the track (Hayden didn’t come with us to this one though), baseball, Symphony on the Prairie, etc etc..  It really was jam packed with stuff!

I think Granddad had a great time, and I know that Hayden adored him.  They were always playing together and Hayden loved having him down at his level playing with all his toys.   Just before they left we went for food at local restaurant and Hayden was a little Tired after all his late nights and can be a little unpredictable at restaurants.  Well we sat him next to Granddad and we didn’t hear a peep out of him the whole time!!  They kept each other amused and also well feed as neither of them had empty plates!!   Come back anytime Granddad!!

Hayden and Granddad May 31, 2008

I was really thrilled that my dad got to meet Hayden! They seemed to get on very well and he got to see how nice of a boy he is!! I think we had a very proud granddad on our hands. He was very funny because he has his beard he was worried what Hayden might think of it, but Hayden is so laid back he didn’t care!!!

It was great having him here but it went so fast!! We went to the track to watch Indy 500 practice, got to play golf a couple of times, and took a fun trip to the Zoo. I’m not sure who enjoyed it the most – my dad or Hayden. Hayden was very animated during the Dolphin show though. It went on for like 15 minutes with very cheesy dance music, and he was jumping up and down on my lap the whole time. I just held him up so he was standing on me and he was loving it!!!!

Next time I’m going to make him stay for two weeks!

Granddad! May 27, 2008

I’m sure John will elaborate when he gets time, but his dad Jim was here visiting for a week with his friend Jean.  It was the first time they’d met Hayden.  We had a really great time!  We went to the zoo, Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch a practice, Lake Monroe to see Dad and Gretchen, Connor Prairie (a living museum, where everything is set up as a little town circa 1836 and 1886 and the employees all dress of the period and talk as though it is that time period), and had some nice meals.  We crammed in quite a lot in a short time.  The guys played golf a couple of times and we girls got our nails done as well.  But best of all it wasjust great that Hayden got to meet his Granddad.  They seemed to get a kick out of each other!

Gemma October 29, 2007

Gemma was here last week.  She got here on Saturday and left Wed.  Unfortunately we picked her up from the airport about an hour before we had to say goodbye to Jude.  I can only imagine how she felt walking into that situation.  She was very kind though and watched Hayden for us while we went to the vet, and then gave us big hugs when we got back.  It was really nice to have a close friend here during that time.  I probably would have spent my days moping around, but because she was here we got out and walked around Indianapolis, shopped, ate, and went down to Bloomington, my old university town.  She definitely helped us feel better.

We’ve been so lucky having so many visitors.  We love that so many people from England and other parts of the US have gotten to meet Hayden already.  Just need to get Jono and Maz and Helen and Wyn over now!  And Faith, are you still coming in Dec?  And of course John’s dad needs to see him still.  My cousin Mandy is coming in from Chicago this weekend to meet him, so we are looking forward to seeing her.  Then that’s it until Christmas when John’s sister comes out.  So if anyone else fancies a visit we have openings! 🙂

Today was my first day back to work.  I am working from home three days a week throughout the end of the year, when I am supposed to go back full time.  I am still working for IBM although for a different department that has very limited travel.  Even though I work out of the house, Hayden still has to go to daycare so he can get proper care while I’m working and I can likewise actually get work done.  I don’t think it would give my clients a lot of confidence if I had a crying baby in the background during conference calls!  Fortunately there is a day care center with infant care just down the road from our house.  It is literally about a 40 second drive from our driveway to the center.  It is an easy walk as well but I don’t know if I will ever not be in such a rush to see him that I would take the extra time to walk.  Anyway, it is so near that I can go feed him during my lunch time.  That is huge while I am adjusting to being apart from him, because it only ends up being two 3 to 4 hour blocks of time without him, instead of a long 8 or 9 or 10 hour stretch.  I don’t know if I will always go there for lunch, but it is perfect right now.  I went today and he was so tired he was completely zonked out while he was eating and probably didn’t really register that I was even there!  Oh well, I know I need to see him more than he needs to see me.  I never knew I was such a wuss. ;-P

Hayden Shows An Interest August 17, 2007

Hayden has taken to watching footy this week.  Perfect timing as the premiership started this week.  He is thrilled as his team, Everton FC, are top of the league.  He had a great time watching them thrash Grandpa Goodwin’s team in the week.

First Week With My Son! August 11, 2007

Time flies, obvious statement but so very true during the first week of Hayden’s life.   Every-time Kara and me looked at the clock we were like “How can it be that late? where did the last hour or two go?”  Every minute with him in these first few days has just been precious.  We just can’t stop holding him, cuddling him talking to him , singing and dancing with him (well maybe that’s just me!).  He is the most adorable little man ever.  I am biased but I don’t care.  For a newborn he is so just so beautifully formed, his complexion is fantastic and just has the funniest little expressions already.

He peed on his Mum this morning, a perfectly formed circle of pee appeared on her t-shirt. He he.  He ‘sat’ down and watched Grandpa Goodwin’s football team Tottenham Hotspur lose this morning.  He felt bad for his grandpa but he loved his first football game and has demanded that he is allowed to watch more.

He really is a little rock and roll star, the only thing he needs to improve on is his toilet habits.   The night before last I changed his nappy four times in 30 minutes, and then last night everytime he peed he leaked his nappies, i think we had to change his clothes 4 or 5 times, and already twice today and it’s not lunchtime yet!!!  Little pee pee monster!

Oh and of course he is the most advanced one week year old I have ever seen 😀

I love him!

Features August 4, 2007

It was bound to be.  Goodwin son with Goodwin ears.  Even Kara knew it was a done deal.  Something so powerful could never skip a generation.

Well a miracle has happened.  His ears are identical to Kara’s!!  They are small and closely tucked to his face!  Not big and sticking out like Prince Charles.  I don’t know if my friends will be happy or sad about that!!!

On the up side he does have nipples like mine!!  haha.

He is one good looking boy if you ask me.  I know Grandpa Goodwin agrees!!