Meet Miss Jones

All week I’ve been trying to get a post up about our trip to Scotland, but the evenings keep filling up and before I know it, I’m in bed after a looooong day.

Like today–whew. We went to Ikea in Cardiff to get a few things (including a high chair for Charlie–just a couple weeks until he’ll be using it). We also joined Costco (yes, they have Costco here!), taking full advantage of great prices on giant bags of almonds, shrimp, frozen berries, plus a huge value pack of contact solution (which for some reason seems to be really expensive in the UK). We will probably go just once a month to do a little stocking up on staples, but it’s so worth it.

Driving home was a bit hairy, as coming back from Cardiff typically seems to be: taking the wrong exit on a roundabout which then shot us back where we came from, with ten minutes before we could turn around, which then coincided with school letting out, crazy traffic, and rain. Driving is definitely the biggest stress and most difficult cultural adjustment we’ve had to make, but that deserves its own post.

The evening itself was pretty laid back, though, and I did my strength training circuit from 42 Days to Fit. I’m
looking forward to seeing a difference soon, as well as just to getting more energy in general.

All this to say, really, that a Scotland post is coming soon, just you wait! In the meantime, here’s a photo of The Cutest.

At five months, Charlie is…

:: Rolling over! A bunch. Pretty much whenever we set him on his back on the floor, he’s flipped over within minutes. He loves to roll onto his stomach and yell excitedly, or just kick his feet back and forth and watch what’s going on in the room.

:: Also, yelling. A lot. I think he’s just figuring out how loud his voice is.

:: Cracking up when we bounce him and sing songs. He has a few distinct laughs — and a pretty great giggle.

:: Went to Scotland! Not only that, but he got to visit his great, great grandmother’s house in Stonehouse (on our way home). I’m pretty excited that we have photos of him there.

:: Talks and talks and talks. Sometimes softly (in the morning), sometimes very, very loudly (in the middle of a quiet museum).

:: Went swimming! Yesterday we met some friends at the Leisure Centre and he took his first dip in the pool. He’s a big fan.

:: Is loving the Ergo carrier. He likes to munch on the edges of the fabric, and sleeps really well when we’re out and about. I’m really glad my parents got it for us–it’s so sturdy and really comfortable to wear.

:: Slowly but surely is beginning to sit by himself. He’s still pretty shaky but I have a feeling we aren’t far off. I’m looking forward to doing Baby Led Weaning with him when he turns 6 months if he is indeed sitting up and showing other signs of readiness.

:: Has the nickname “Goober.” I need to mix it up, but man, he’s just such a goober! It’s hard to call him anything else, although I do transition to calling him “Macgruber” at times.

:: Is a talented raspberry-blower. He also thinks it is hi-larious when we blow raspberries, especially if it’s on his tummy.

:: Continues to babble and make lots of fun noises (especially in the mornings)

:: Enjoys grabbing his feet and chilling in “happy baby” pose.

:: Is so sweet and has the biggest smiles. I love him so much!

We’ve got a roller. It took a few days of alllllllmost rolling over, then another day or so of grabbing on to various objects to heave himself onto his stomach, but on Thursday he made it happen. Now I can barely set him down for a minute without an immediate flip over. He hasn’t figured out how to roll from his stomach to his back yet, so after a few minutes of grinning, looking around, and an excited scream or two, he’ll start getting fidgety until we flip him back. I guess this is the first step on the road to actually babyproofing our house (well, to some degree).

Also, I pulled out my “nice” camera and actually used it! Yay! I’m keeping it in the living room now, out of its case, so that I will hopefully be using it more.

I’ve always loved to cook, but I haven’t typically been a big baker. I went through a spell where I made my own bread for quite a while (using the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day method), and I did a few more adventurous desserts, but nothing too regular. Now that I’m a mama, I feel like it’s a skill I need to hone a bit more. As a family, we’ve also been trying to be hospitable at least once a week (whether it’s taking someone dinner or having people over). Finally, there are so many measurements that I’m trying to get the hang of over here (hello mL and grams), so the more I use them the better.

These things led me to my new challenge: baking one thing each week. I’m using Pinterest as a springboard, but the goal is to bake one thing (usually dessert) to share with others, every week. The first week, it was Nigella’s Everyday Brownies (oh man were they good) to share with our neighbors and the ladies at my church Bible study. Next, it was Jamie Oliver’s Pizza Dough when we had friends over for dinner, as well as this Snickerdoodle Apple Cobbler (not as heavenly as I’d hoped it would be, but alright nonetheless).

I have been trying to decrease my sugar/carb intake a bit (which is a lot harder to do over here than it ever was in the US), but treats are, well, treats. I figure once a week is decent moderation, provided I’m always sharing it and not devouring whatever I make as soon as it’s out of the oven.

I’m hoping to keep challenging myself as well–meringue nests, a sponge roll, filled cupcakes, etc. I don’t know that I’ll blog all of my projects, but I’d like to share when I can, both for posterity’s sake and so I can keep myself accountable.

Do you have any suggestions for things I should try out? This weekend I made Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Smitten Kitchen, and they were perfect, so I’m thinking maybe some more cookies would be good.

Inspired after reading Kristen’s posts over at Snow Joy, I thought I’d join in the Yarn Along that goes on every Wednesday at Small Things. I don’t know that I’ll be posting every Wednesday (at this point in life, you’d be seeing a lot of the same things), but I’d like to do it at least once a month.

Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?

Right now, I’m finishing up Charlie’s Chevron Blanket and reading Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island. It feels so good to finally be nearing the end of this blanket, since I started it when I was pregnant with him. It’s an easy enough pattern, but I’m just now getting to the point where I actually have time to knit again. The best is when I’m sitting with him, waiting for him to nod off, and he just watches my needles clackity-clack together. I think he really enjoys seeing all of the different colors of yarn in this blanket.

I just started Notes from a Small Island, thinking it might be fun to get a perspective on the UK from a resident who is just returning. I had flipped through it at Barnes and Noble back in the States, but already I’m enjoying it much more since I can better picture the things and places he describes.

Since we’ve moved here, shopping for groceries has become an event. I imagine it would be a fairly big ordeal with a new baby anyway, but add in new brands, different foods, etc and it gets a bit insane. Thankfully, Mr. Jones is quite patient and will push Charlie around in the cart (er, trolly) while I go from aisle to aisle and back again.

I thought I’d share a specific example from the past week of why shopping always takes longer than we plan. We were having friends over for pizza, so we stopped to pick up a few things at Morrisions in Cwmbran (I’m not generally a big fan of Morrisons, but the one in Cwmbran is brand new and has a massive fruit and veg section). I planned to grab two balls of pre-made pizza dough, which Publix (my favorite shop back home) always has at their bakery. So I checked at the bakery–nope. They had to ask three different people, the last one saying maybe it was in the ready-made food area. I went over there and no, but the man in that aisle thought maybe they’d have it in the pizza bakery in front (oh, they have one of those?). Again, I asked three different people in that department, all of whom looked at me like I was insane. They finally took me to the ready-made pizzas and pointed out a Boboli-style pre-baked base. Nope, not what we were looking for.

New plan–we’ll make our own dough. So I use my phone to look up a Jamie Oliver dough recipe…right, just need flour. Go to the flour aisle, where there are fifty different kinds of flour, but not the kind the recipe calls for. I google for a substitution and find one. Next, sugar (three aisles away)–again, fifty different kinds to sort through. Finally, picking up the last few things, I head to the check-out (er…till).

Whew. And that was just for one item! Every week it gets a bit easier, but there are those inevitable things on my list that just don’t exist over here, and sometimes they don’t even have anything remotely similar (I’m looking at you, Nilla Wafers, Root Beer and Graham Crackers). I’ve been trying to use more UK recipes (like ones by Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson) because most of the time I can count on the ingredients being in stock. It also makes measuring easier, since recipes here use the metric system. Still, I do love me some Pioneer Woman recipes, and so I will forever be converting and substituting.

I’ll have to take some photos and do a “tour” of some of the supermarkets here eventually, but for now you’ve got a peek into life here. Most things take a bit longer than we plan, but we are forever learning!

Two weeks ago, Mr. Jones was accepted as a volunteer Financial Counselor for CAP (Christians Against Poverty). It’s an incredible organization, one that allows us to help people who are in financial need while also sharing the gospel with them: the good news that Christ died to pay our debt and give us eternal freedom. We are looking forward to seeing how Caleb will be used, as well as how it will help connect us to people in the community.

To start, though, he had to complete three days of intense training. The training was at the CAP headquarters in Bradford, England (about 4 hours away). Charlie and I figured we’d tag along and see what Northern England was like. We took a whole day to drive up, and stopped in Manchester to take a break from the drive. There’s a giant mall there called the Trafford Centre and the food court was EPIC. It felt like we were in a Disney theme park or something. It’s funny, because while we tend to enjoy indoor shopping more here (due to not having to worry about the weather and it being easy to push Charlie around in the stroller), we don’t really buy anything. Consumer goods (clothing, shoes, etc) are much more expensive here, and just knowing how cheap they are in the States makes it hard to pay the prices. I know eventually we’ll need things, but for now we’re holding out until we make a trip back to the US (after which I know we’ll return with full suitcases).

Heading out of Manchester was a bit crazy, because we hadn’t realized that there was a huge football (soccer) match between Manchester and Manchester United. It was funny seeing people on Facebook talking about the match later after knowing we had driven right by the stadium. We arrived at our hotel fairly late, and got an American guilty pleasure — Pizza Hut. Definitely not healthy but pizza is pretty much the perfect eat-in-your-hotel-room food.

I had planned to do quite a bit of exploring over the next few days with Charlie, but we both were feeling pretty under the weather with this sore throat/coughing bug that has been going around. We did, however, make it to the National Media Museum, which was pretty cool. Charlie slept the entire time and I enjoyed looking at a giant exhibit on Bollywood, as well as learning more about the history of British radio and television. There are so many shows I had never heard of, but lots that I had, and it was neat to see how the history of the BBC compared with what I know of American television.

Bradford is home to a large Indian population, so they’re known for having some of the best curry in the country. We got takeaway from Omar Khan’s (which looked lovely to eat at, but Charlie wasn’t up for hanging out) and it was incredibly delicious. Bradford also has some really lovely historic buildings that are still being used for shops, like a Waterstone’s book store that looked like it was straight off the set of a Harry Potter movie.

On our last day there, I hung out for some of the training and then headed over to the Texure Yarn Shop. It was like yarn heaven…so big, so much yarn — they even had a cozy sitting area in the back with shelves full of knitting books and patterns. I’m sure I could have spent all day in there, but Charlie slept just long enough for me to ogle all of the yarn and pick out three skeins of super soft green that will soon become his own sweater.

The one spot I’d hoped to see but didn’t was Saltaire. It’s the home of Salts Mill, an old mill that snow full of little shops and a beautiful art gallery. It’s a bit outside of town, though, and though we’d planned to stop on our way out of town, it was super rainy and we were ready to head back to Wales. If we’re ever back in the area, though, I definitely plan to go check it out.

All in all, it was a fun trip, and we enjoyed seeing a new part of England. Our hearts are definitely in Wales, though. Just crossing back over into the mountains, I felt like we were “home” again. It’s crazy still to think that this is our home, but it is. Slowly, as one day stacks on to the back of another, we are settling in.

One of the wonderful/terrible things about living in the UK is the plethora of delicious desserts. The milk is just better, somehow, which means the ice cream, puddings, custards and chocolate all taste incredible. They’re also everywhere, teasing you with their sugary goodness.

Needless to say, I’ve OD’d a bit on sweet treats since we’ve been here. As a result, I’ve been having a bit of a sugar/carb hangover and it’s time to come off the sweets a tad. One of the ways I’m trying to get more fruits and veg in as well as fill the gap of treats is Green Smoothies. I’ve been a big Green smoothie fan for quite some time, but they’ve dropped out of my daily diet since we’ve moved over here. No more — they are definitely going to be a regular thing in the Jones household.

There’s a really awesome 30-day green smoothie challenge going on right now over at Simple Green Smoothies. I’m a little late starting, but when you sign up (it’s free), they’ll give you the shopping list and recipes for the first two weeks. The recipes are a great mix: simple berry-based smoothies to more unique mixes (like Strawberry Basil or Peach Coconut Dream).

All you really need? A basic blender, some greens, some fruit, and your liquid base. Your fruit can be fresh, frozen — I even use some canned fruit when I don’t have access to it any other way. You can throw in a few ice cubes to make it frothier, or add a carrot or other vegetable for even more nutrients.

Here’s one of the more basic recipes:

STRAWBERRY, BANANA, BLUEBERRY GREEN SMOOTHIE

(From SimpleGreenSmoothies.com)

This five ingredient smoothie is full of iron, potassium, vitamin C, and antioxidants. We add olive leaf extract, echinacea, and elderberry extract to this Strawberry, Banana, Blueberry green smoothie to make it an immunity booster as well. 

Ingredients

2 cups spinach, fresh
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup orange juice, fresh squeezed
1 cup strawberries
1 cup blueberries
2 bananas

Makes 4-5 cups (about 2 servings)

Directions

Blend the liquid and spinach together first. Then add the remaining fruits and vegetables. Serve immediately for best consistency. 

** FYI: This green smoothie is more like a purple smoothie… thanks to the blueberries. 

At four months, Charlie is…

:: Very nearly rolling over. He goes from his back to his side pretty well; not all the way to his stomach yet, but he’s definitely started to get good at shimmying around. I’ll often put him on the floor in one spot, leave the room for a minute and come back to find him in a totally different position.

:: Taking a nice, long afternoon nap. I love this, and who knows how long it will last, but he will pretty reliably go down for an hour and a half to two hours around 1ish every day.

:: A big talker. He loves to chat away, sharing lots of “Yahhoooos” and “Awwwoooaahhheee” and “Ohhhhhhheeee.” We can already tell he’s going to be a big storyteller like his dad.

:: Just started to enjoy hanging out with Sophie, his giraffe. She was a gift from a friend and he loves chewing on her head, squeezing her to hear the squeak, and grabbing on to her in his car seat.

:: A total goober in the mornings. When he wakes up around 7 or so, he’s a nut — giggles, laughs, big smiles. It’s definitely my favorite part of the day.

:: Already visited England. He thought it was alright, but likes Wales the best.

:: Really loves being out in his pushchair (that’s what they call a stroller here). We got a great deal on a store-model McLaren, and I’m so glad we opted for it instead of a more infant-oriented pram. I know it will last him for quite a while and he seems so comfortable in it.

:: Is a big charmer whenever we’re around lots of people. He loves to give out smiles, tell stories, and laugh when new people talk to him. Numerous folks have jokingly tried to steal him.

:: Had his first bout of illness. Last week he got the icky cold/cough/throat thing that both Caleb and I had, and a sick baby is so very sad. He actually has had pretty good spirits throughout the whole thing, but having a hoarse voice, little cough and stuffed up nose is pretty rough. He haaaaaates when I help him clear out his nose and will scream bloody murder, but then he’s happy a minute later when he can breathe better.

:: Has a great trick: whenever one of us grabs both of his hands, he kicks his feet in front of him because he knows we’re going to pull him into a sitting position. He’s very good at the whole “assisted sitting thing.”

:: Just discovered his feet. If he’s laying on his back and we lift his bottom up a bit, he immediately looks at his feet and starts flailing them around.

:: Is currently being called: Nuggie Nuggs, Bug, Peanut, Goober and Chunk.

:: Looking forward to warmer weather so he can go on more walks with Mum and Dad!

My handsome husband, in front of a castle.

So we’re here. In Wales. I can’t believe I’m just now writing this, but things have been pretty nonstop. Moving to a foreign country can keep you quite busy, especially when there’s a baby involved! Even simple things like moving in and putting our mountain of IKEA furniture together take twice as long as they used to, since one of us is hanging out with Charlie.

We’ve been here for about six weeks — it’s hard to believe it’s already April! We are thankful for it, though, because the snow has melted (yes, we  had snow last week!) and the sun is out. We know our hot Florida summers will be nowhere to be found, but we are excited to do lots of exploring as the mountain air warms up a bit.

The view from our bedroom window just two weeks ago.

Mr. Jones and I have both been hit with sinus bugs (blerg), but I’m on the mend and Caleb is no longer coughing every ten seconds. We hadn’t thought about the fact that all of our immunities are no good here! We will be hand-washing, citrus-intaking fools while our bodies get used to this new environment, and hopefully we can keep from catching every virus that goes around. Charlie, thankfully, is healthy as ever. He had his first GP (general doctor) appointment this morning and she called him an “applesauce baby” (I guess that’s kind of like a US “Gerber Baby”). She also jokingly tried to steal him and said she’s never seen a baby so happy and full of energy at his age!

My “9 to 5″

I am starting to adjust to what daily life looks like here. It’s funny, too, because I’m also just now starting to adjust to being a full-time stay at home mom. We had so many things to do before we left the States, and nothing was consistent, that it just wasn’t something that I had to deal with. I love it already, and running our household/raising Charlie is what I want to be doing more than anything else. But I also know that it is a slow process when you’re a new mom in a new place. It takes time to build routines and friendships, and it is harder than normal being away from all of your family and friends. Thankfully, technology has been a huge blessing. Through the magic of iMessage (and thanks to the fact that most of my friends/family have iPhones), I can text as easily as I did before. We’ve had a blast using FaceTime and Skype to catch up with people, and I can share plenty of photos of Charlie via Instagram and Facebook.

FaceTime is fun with this chunky guy.

Social Media is a double-edged sword though. Though it can be wonderful, it can also steal our time so easily. I want my focus to be on my family and on “real life” more than on the world inside my little black box. To help keep things balanced, our family is going to start doing a “Social Media Sabbatical” on the first weekend of every month. I got the idea from Lara Casey (I’m a little obsessed with her Making Things Happen series right now) and I think it’s very necessary. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Speaking of goal setting, it’s something I’m working on a lot this week. April is, in a way, our January — it’s the beginning of a new season and the beginning of a solid routine in a set place (something we haven’t had for quite some time). One of my goals is to blog more, and to take the pressure off of what a blog post needs to be. I’ve talked about this before, but I feel like I’ve never kept up with it the way I want to. I want this to be a place where my friends and family can keep track of what we’re up to; where I can share and record things that happen in our family; where I have zero pressure to be anything but exactly what I am. So, new season, new goal, and we’ll see what happens.

Finally, a few photos of life here lately!

Coffee breaks are very frequent here. Charlie, you’ve got a while before you hit this stuff!

Lovely cafe in Cowbridge where we ate with some friends from church.

Happy Easter from Charlie! His Great-Grandma got him the sweet blue sweater and he loves it.

We stayed with friends for the first few weeks here and they had llamas outside their kitchen window!

Charlie may have been born in Florida, but he’s okay with the cold.