Thanksgiving

Im so thankful for so much in my life!  A wonderful husband, 3 beautiful children, a fabulous extended family that is suppotive, loving and kind, a job I can go to when I need/want to, great friends, and roof over my head.  God has truley blessed me with so much. 

Today the O'Sullivan's are coming to spend Thanksgiving with us.  Last year Abby and Liam were just a few weeks old and they come over so I think we might be starting a tradition.  Scott smoked 2 turkeys and Mark fried 2 turkeys.  I have never had a fried turkey and boy that was YUMMY!!!  Nikki and I decided that no ones favorite side dish would be left out.  So we cooked them all! 
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole
Broccoli Casserole
Cranberry Sauce
Stuffing
Rolls
Gravy
4 Turkeys
All of this for 4 adults, 2 children and 2 toddlers!!  The kids combined only ate about the size of 1 adult plate.  Needless to say we had a ton of leftovers. 

We topped it off with wine, beer, apple crisp and brownie pie!!!  Love having Mark, Nikki, and Liam over.  No feelings of needing to entertain.  Im not even sure Mark ever changed out of his "turkey frying" clothes!  I loved it! 

Abby's Walking!!!

Tonight Abby walked from the family room to the boys room without falling.  Scott and I looked at each other like "did she really just do that".  Sure enough she came back around the corner walking into the kitchen.  She has finally done it!  She realizes she can get from A to Z walking and not crawling.  Before tonight she had only taken a few steps fallen and kept crawling. 

Im not sure who is more proud her mommy and daddy or her tow big brothers.  So exciting!

England Bound!

My best friend Joanna has had her first baby boy so my mom, Abby, and I went to visit her, Trevor, and Baby Sam. We didnt buy Abby a seat and were hoping for the bulkhead seats so we could get her the bassinet that hooks to the wall. We were fortunate enough to get the bulkhead but unfortunately one of the bolts were missing so there was no way for the bassinet to hang on the wall. Fabulous! Our flight didnt take off til 11:50 PM. She actually fell asleep in my arms for about 45 minutes but once the flights attendants were coming through the aisles to serve dinner....yes dinner at midnight REALLY!!!...she was wide awake. Now its 1:00 and she is about as awake as the night owl. 2:15 and she is still partying like she is a rock star although Grammy managed to go to sleep and left me to deal with her...hello I brought you on this trip for a reason it it wasnt to sleep on the plane if the 1 year old was awake :)! Finally at 3:30 she fell asleep on the floor of the plane at our feet. I have to admit Grammy FINALLY woke up and she was the one who got her to sleep...Thanks Grammy!!

We didnt do too much exploring since Sam was only 9 weeks old, the weather was cold & wet, but also because weve dont all the exploring already and now Jo and I like to spend as much quality time as we can.  Whenever we are together the week seems as if it flies by.  We ate lots and drank more wine than the vineyards could supply :).  Added a few walks in our day to help counteract the calories we assumed. 




Our walk and view to the Palace

Blenheim Palace

We had a small bump in the road come Sunday morning.  Abby had a radh from head to toe!!!  Sitting at the table eating  breakfast with Baby Sam, Trevor & Abby.  I say to Trevor "do you see that spot on Abby's head?" Trevor "Yes I do" as he sit next to his newborn child.  If  only you could imagine what wasgoing through my head!  Im in a foreign country staying with people who have a newborn baby and my child looks like a spotted leopard!!  I called the ER over in the States and talked to Dr Aboudan.  He asked me about fever....ugh i took it but they do there #'s in celcius could you please translate.....no fever, he asked about the rash and asked if there were bumps under her armpits.  Well yes there is.  OK you need to see a doctor ASAP it sounds like Scarlet Fever!  What???  How????  Oh and Janice she will be contagious to that little newborn!  OH boy! Im now freaking out!!!  Appt was made for 7:30 that night.  All I could now is pray that she is OK and we do not contaminate this house.  We now have 8 hours til our appt so the only thing we knew to do is go to the pub...what else right? 

Few drinks at the pub and back to the house for a lovely lunch over wine, candles and great friends.  Jonathan came over to visit and give us some great laughs.  He was so good to my mom, me and little Abby.

Abby's 1st English Beer :)

Its time to go to the doctor.  We are on our way to an acute care center which is a hospital with an ER.  The way they do their ER's over there is that they are color coded and you can only go to the ER that handles your time of illness.  WOW can we please start that over in America!!!  Plus I had an appointment.  Obviously they took walk ins too.  Basically I was at an ER that only took SPED patients.  Totally different healthcare there.  Children and adults see the same doctor.  There isnt a peditrician for the kids and your regular PCP for adults.  Of course I am panicking thinking they wont know what is wrong with me baby! The doctor thinks its chicken poxs.  Now Im more confused.  She just had her vaccination for them aprrox 2 weeks ago.  They dont vaccinate agaisnt chicken pox so they have no idea if this could possible be a reaction to the immunization.  Good news was since Joanna was immune and she was breastfeeding Sam was in the clear!!  When we got home I googled possible reactions to the varicella shot and less than 5% of children will breakout in a rask 2-3 weeks post shot and it will mimic the chicken pox!  Way to go Abby falling into the 5%!! The rash was gone in 2 days. 

Picture of the crew

Sam "Baby Trevor"

Grammy and Sam

Twins 30 something years apart

So in love with her baby boy!!



The Queens Quarters - Jo and Trevors House



Best Friends for 15 years!!

The Roninson Family

Brrr mommy its cold over here!! 

The Trout Inn - Best Pub Ever!

Leaving is always hard.  They are our family!  Its always unknown when we will see them again but know that we are always close in the heart. 

Now its time to beg for the bulkhead seat again in hopes that the bassinet will work on this plane (please dont be the same plane I beg).  As we are checking in the delta man says he has reserved the two aisle seats for me & my mom.  He has put a hold on the middle seat so that Abby can ride home in a car seat buckled!  I ask if they would allow me to that since I didnt pay for a seat.  The man said there shouldnt be a problem since the plane wasnt full.  So excited I say to the man "your the Bomb!" so not the right words to use while in an airport :) Thank goodness he had a good sence of humor. 

9 hour plane ride home and Abby slept 1 hour! Fabulous!  She never borke down just need constant attention or food.