Up to our Necks

Well it has been a while since I have given an up date and well this picture might just help you know why.

It has been a crazy few weeks as we have been getting ready to move. We packed all of our own boxes, so it took a lot of time and work and here is the end result from last night.

All of our boxes ready to be picked up early this morning. Crazy. Then again it hasn't been the easiest living in a house full of boxes either. Here are some pictures of the main last push of Saturday when Brian was home to help and much of the work got done.

Behind Lizzie is all of the stuff from the bathroom that Brian pulled out to clean it. Now we just need to take a lot of trips to the charity shops near by and pack our suitcases. Then we will be boarding a plane tomorrow evening to come home for good!!!!

We have also had many good times. Last Saturday we went to dinner at our landlords which was very nice.

Then on Sunday the wonderful Stamp family had us over for some of the best food ever!!! I have always loved home cooked Italian food.

Then this Friday we had dinner with my dear Ruth and her dad. I will miss those good English roast dinners.


Sunday we had a munch and mingle after church, with a great spread. It was wonderful. A previous bishop and his family happened to be there that Sunday as well.

As were others who I love. many others, but just thought I would add this one more picture.


I will very much miss the people in this ward and the great friendship and sisterhood that is here.

Monday night we had some friends over for dinner who were unable to make it on Sunday. We were happy to get to see the Peels again one more time in England. Even Lizzie warmed up to them.

So that has been our craziness. Hopefully we can just make it a little bit longer and get everything finished up before we need to get on a plane tomorrow.

I just wanted to end with this cute video of Jamie. I have began to notice how cute he is when he eats and just had to take a video of it. This shows more of just how cute he is in general, but oh well at least you will be able to tell that he is still cute.

Jamie Update!!!

I just wanted to give an update on Jamie. We took him to the doctor today and the doctor said that he hadn't had measles, as his rash is already fading. The doctor also said that his breathing sounded good. So basically it was all good news and besides finishing the antibiotic he is off all other meds!!!! Great news for us here!!!!
I also should mention that I packed one box today, yea!!!

Jamie Turns 1 year old

Well this week has been another crazy one. Just after I posted the blog last week Jamie started getting sick again. Tuesday I took him back to the doctors and was given some advice as to how to get him through this and a prescription for some antibiotics, in case if his fever got worse. Otherwise the advice was just to have him back on the inhalers.

Wednesday, he started to get a bit of a rash on his face and his fever was still staying high, no matter what I did. So we started him on the antibiotics. Thursday the rash moved to all over his body. Also on Thursday our boxes arrived for us to fill for our big move. And someone who just moved into the ward came over to get a bunch of the stuff we are clearing out, what a relief. Thursday was a very exciting day because all so that day Ebay started a week and a half of it costing 5p to put on an auction item no matter what the starting cost is. What great timing for us!!!! So away I went listing things on Ebay.

By Friday, Jamie was acting and feeling much better, but he still had this ugly looking rash all over. I on the other had stopped being able to stand well do to some pain in my lower back. It was a very hard afternoon. And I had even bought the ingredients to make a Halloween treat and couldn't stand to do it.

Saturday, was Jamie's Birthday!!!!! We had a very slow morning and then after lunch Brian decided to take Jamie in to see a doctor about the rash. He came back 3 hours later with a stronger inhaler and the news that the rash might be eczema or it could be measles. So now we need to take him to the doctor again on Monday so that he can be tested for measles. Poor guy that is no way to spend a birthday.

We then had a great pizza dinner and then brought out the birthday treat. (I had hoped to make a cake but again I must blame my back and my obsession with Ebay that I didn't get it made. I did have some times during the day when my back didn't feel to bad so that was a great relief.) So here is Jamie with his birthday treat of Belgium waffle, berries, ice cream and marshmallows.

Here he is blowing out the candle. I don't know many one year olds who can blow out their own candle, I am so very impressed with him. (Brian didn't tell me till later that he actually blew out the candle, I just thought all of the practice that we had been giving him paid off.)

The marshmallows were a little big for him!!

Brian came up with a great way to get the kids to look at the camera while he was recording.

We were shocked at how much Jamie ate, he ate almost as much as Brian or I can handle. We did end up cutting it into small pieces so that he could eat it.

Chocolate cake shows up much nicer for the messiness, but here is the end results all the same. (You may notice all of the red dots on his skin that is the rash that we have been worried about.)

Then, of course, the clean up operation. Lizzie was a big help!!!

Here is a cute picture of Brian and the Kids!!!!

And here they are laying around with me as I have been doing a lot of that lately.

I mention that on Thursday we had some boxes arrive as you might guess they are still folded up and empty, but we do have 20 things listed on Ebay.

Today was the first time that I have had to fast in 2 and a half years. It was kind of nice. We sadly only remember right before breakfast but it was easy to think of what to fast for. I was also released today. Sadly also we left right after Sacrament meeting because of the point that Jamie might have the measles and we probably shouldn't have taken him to church at all, but I didn't want any of us to have to miss it again.

Well that has been our week. Oh yea it has also been very cold so we haven't wanted to get out much, good combination with a sick kido. Well love you all!! It is lat and we are now going to bed!!!

Snow in October

Snow in London is such a rare occasion that every time it has happened in the over three and a half years that we have been here I have taken a picture. This week it snowed again. We noticed it snowing before we went to bed and this is what we woke up to. It was so cold that there was even a little bit of snow left the next morning.

The newsman said that he couldn't remember it snowing in London in October and he could remember 20 years ago when it snowed around London in October. I just tell you that so you can realize how rare of an occasion this particular snow fall is.

Recovering Well!!!

I am very happy to report that this week has been much less exciting then last week. We have actually spent most of it at home as the kids sleep a lot to get over being sick. They really have had some long naps this week and besides walks to the shops we didn't go out of the house much, until Saturday. I think that they are now well enough that next week we will be able to visit some friends and let them be around other kids.

Saturday morning I left Brian with the kids as they were finishing breakfast, and he figured out how to get the kids to help do the washing up!!! We have learned that we need to train kids in their youth. This picture was taken through the kitchen window on Sunday night when Brian showed me how he got Jamie involved.

This weekend was Stake Conference so we decided to spend some time in the city. We left a little later then planned as some people came to buy one of our cribs. Then we thought that we would go and see some fishes at the Aquarium, but there was a long line to get in so we decided to go over by the church to some of the free museums over there.

The Aquarium is over by Parliament so we decided to take a few pictures
on our way back to the station.

Lizzie started out enjoying the bugs and the fishes, but started getting very nervous with the large animals. Except with the ones that she knows from her books like the monkey and the elephant at first.



After spending some time at the Museum of Natural History we decided that it was about dinner time and walked over to our favorite Indian place. When we got there we found out that it didn't open for another hour so we waited. While waiting Lizzie got to help move the kegs around.


Brian has been going to this restaurant since his single days and so they know us there pretty well. They were surprised with how big our kids have gotten and it was as always fun to see the owners again.

Here we are outside of the restaurant.

Sadly though it made us an hour late for the adult session of the conference, but we made it in time to hear the talks of the visiting seventies. They both gave very good talks that I was happy to be there to hear.

Since selling Jamie's bed we have had to change the sleeping arrangements.

I think Lizzie kind of likes her new bed, I'm just waiting till she realizes that she can really get out of it. I imagine that she will be over playing by Jamie at nap time at least one day this next week. She can't yet open doors if closed all the way so we can still prevent her from leaving the room if needed.

This morning we arrived at Stake Conference just as it was starting thanks to the clocks being set back last night, that extra hour helps a lot when trying to get ready in the morning. Our Stake President is moving back to the States and so another presidency had to be called. To our surprise one of the newest members in our ward was put in as a counselor, he had just been set apart the day before as a High Counselor on Saturday. He found a way to get out of that calling without even having to go to one of the meetings. It was a great meeting yet again as the leaving and new presidencies spoke and again the two visiting seventies who have such great spirits and testimonies. After the meeting we got to visit with a few of our friends from the stake before leaving the very crowded building.

To end here is a fun video of Lizzie looking at her baby animals book!!! Enjoy!!!

Funny Video

I all the craziness of last week, I did get to watch this pigeon trying to eat an apple off of our tree. I found it so very funny I thought that I should take a video. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

A Few too Many Visits to the Hospital

We have been going to doctors and A&E (Accident and Emergency) far to much this week or so. It started with last Thursday when I went to my local doctor to let him know that I was pregnant and to the the process in hopes of getting the early scan as the pregnancy did quite feel right, so I wanted some confirmation that all was well before leaving the country since I didn't know how long it would be before I went to a doctor again.

Saturday and Sunday I went to the A&E as I was bleeding and could tell there were complications. Monday we returned to the hospital and it was confirmed that I had miscarried the baby. It is very strange how much peace Brian and I have felt through this whole thing. I guess it just wasn't meant to be that we would have all of our children really close together, or that the timing would be wrong with the move and all. It is interesting that even though we planned this one, we have so much peace about our plan not working out. After Sunday we said we were going to avoid the A&E from then on. We figured that we could do that with just over a month left before leaving the country, but we were wrong.

Monday afternoon we went to see again to our doctor's surgery to see the nurse about if we should get the vaccinations for Jamie a little early or wait until we are in the states. It was decided that it was better to get the shots late then to get them early. Tuesday and Wednesday Jamie started getting a little sick. On Thursday he woke up early and as I was laying with him in bed I noticed that he was breathing quite loudly, when my ear was near his chest. I decided to take him to the GP, so back to the doctor's surgery that morning. When the doctor listened to Jamie breath she said that we had better take him to the A&E as he sounded quite bad and they could treat him better there. So off we went back down to the hospital. There is a separate A&E for children, which is just off of the regular A&E. When we got called in they took us right to the back though so I didn't get to see what it was like except for the examination rooms. They looked at him and listened to him breath, gave him medicine to bring his temperature down, they put him on a nebulizer, with much waiting in between the different parts. they said that he has bronchiolitis or something like that, which is a virus of the bronchioles. I have done some research so that I could figure out how it is spelled and found that it is most commonly caused by RSV.

Finally, the doctor came to see him and after much debating he decided that as a precaution he should stay in the hospital for the night just to be careful. I called a friend, Josie, who lives near the hospital as she came to get a very bored and tired Lizzie. Then they took Jamie and I upstairs to the Children's Ward, where they have a nice little playroom and other fun things for children. Jamie however didn't get to see any of that as he had to stay in his room the whole time, they put him in isolation so that he wouldn't infect any of the other children.

I was quite interested to see the hospital crib that he would get to sleep in, so I asked Brian to bring the camera along with our other items for the night. Here is my attempt at taking an artsy picture of him in his crib.

It was good that we were in the hospital that night as his fever raised and it affected his breathing and he wasn't getting enough oxygen. They took a chest xray and took some blood, both of these to see if he had an infection, they tried to put a baby iv thing in order to give him antibiotics if there was a infection, they put an oxygen mask on him, they were giving him nebulizer treatments ever 40 minutes with just a saline solution in it, to help brake up the junk in his lungs, plus others with medicine stuff in it however often. They even notice that the machine, they hooked him up to, read a few times that his heart rate dropped to 80 so they gave him something to shock his system into working. I really think that they over did it a bit. It was crazy, thankfully he slept through most of it.

Here is a picture of him sleeping with the oxygen mask on during the night.

Thankfully, when morning came and he got up he was back to his normal playful self and by the middle of the day that his breathing was sounding very good, and they stopped even listening to him breathing. He was still getting nebulizers of the saline solution every few hours and an inhaler at the same time. They still wanted to keep him one more night just to make sure that the same thing didn't happen as the night before. Thankfully, Friday night he slept well the whole night and had no problems.

Here is Brian giving Jamie the nebulizer. After this Lizzie wanted to try the little machine as well.

Here are just some pictures of Jamie playing in his crib.

The bed really does tilt far, as does the feet, and the bed rises up so the Jamie was taller then me.

After such a good night I thought that they would easily release him. However when the doctor came in the morning and listened to his breathing, he was wheezing a little. So they gave him the inhaler again and kept him around to see if it helped. I was very disappointed with this news as 1. I really wanted to be out of the hospital and 2. Our friend Sara was getting married that day and I really wanted to be at the wedding. This news came to late for me to get to the wedding, but Brian came to be with Jamie so that I could go to the reception. I had a great time at the reception and she looked stunning.

While I had been staying in the hospital with Jamie, Brian was having quite a hard time with a Lizzie who was also getting sick and being miserable. She was sleeping really badly and being very demanding. So when I called Brian to see how they were doing as I left the reception, I was more disappointed then surprised when he told me that the doctor had told him to take Lizzie down to A&E so that she could get checked out. Jamie was sleeping at this time. When I got to the hospital 45 minutes later, Lizzie was still in A&E so I went down to be with her and let Brian go back up to be with Jamie. Almost an hour later I was getting very antsy as I had promised Sara and Andrew that Brian would be there to be a witness for their temple sealing, and the time was getting close for if he could get there on time. He didn't realize it at the time but the only people they had invited to the sealing were those who were to have a part in it, which is why he really needed to go because otherwise they would have to find someone at the temple that they didn't know to be their witness. So I went up to relieve him. As I got there they were just releasing Jamie as well as the doctor had just gone down to see to Lizzie. I forced him to leave and cleaned up the room then returned to A&E so that Lizzie could be seen to. After another hour or so Lizzie was also released and they both came home with inhalers to use a bit often if you ask me. After the first day I have only used them as needed.

On my way back from the reception I remember that the teacher for Sunday had called, on Wednesday, to say that she wasn't going to be able to make it and I hadn't found anyone else to teach. Which meant that I had a lesson to prepare. The lesson was number 19 in the Joseph Smith Jr. book which talks all about trials. I figured that I knew a little about trials after the week that I had, but I soon realized that what I had been though was not even close to what JS Jr. and others of that time were asked to suffer. It also made me wonder just what Joseph Smith thought as he went through these trials. Thinking back on my week and how some may say that it was simply an terrible week, yet through it all I have felt peace, I have been comforted and I have know that all will work out. I imagine that Joseph Smith also was given a lot of comfort in his trials in which we look at them as much worse then he would have. It was also nice to be reminded that we all need to be proved and tested in order to be found worthy to live with Heavenly Father again.

As I was finishing my lesson a dear friend, Suzi Gregersen who was in the ward about two years ago sneaked into the back of the room. After church I enjoyed talking to her and her husband and knew that Brian would enjoy to see them as well, besides they never got to meet my kids. So they came over for dinner and we had a great evening with them even though we fear that we kept them to late for they did have someone else to visit afterwards. It was a great surprise and so wonderful to catch up with them.

Well I guess that I had better end there, I'm sure I have written far to much. But it was a much more exciting week then we usually get, for which I am glad, I'm not sure what I would do if every week was like this one.