A walk through Princes Street Gardens

Today around 4:00PM I experienced a minor episode of cabin fever.  Neal was busy working on term papers, I was busy working on job apps, Eleanor was busy working on gnawing her way through my backpack, and our flat was starting to feel stuffy and cramped.  I told Neal that no matter what we were up to at 4:30, we were leaving the house for a walk.  So we did.  We went to Princes Street Gardens, a beautiful park right on a busy street full of clothing stores and boutiques, just below the castle.  It was a bit chilly, but E was snug in her bundle bag (one of my top five most useful baby purchases) and we took our time.  Breaks are important.  It's just a matter of re-motivating yourself after the break is over ;)

'Tis the season for lots and lots of pictures of trees :)

October, I love you

What a glorious month.  It's cliche' and everyone's favorite, but I think October is a young adult's Christmas.  Yesterday as we were relaxing after church with a light rain drizzling outside our window, pulled pork simmering in the crock pot, and E conked out in her crib, I felt absolutely giddy for no reason other than 'fall'!

Neal is reeeaally busy with school.  He has three papers due by the end of the month and has been lamenting about how hard it is to stay inside and study when there is so much to do out there.  But we are here for school, so instead of playing, we've been cooped up in our flat as he works on projects.  Neal's brother and his wife are coming to visit the first week of November so we know there will be plenty of time for fun while they're here.

I have been working on a job opportunity that will allow me to work from home.  I'm in the final stage of my application (it has several tests, hard ones!) and am crossing all my fingers and toes that it will work out.  Wish me luck!

Neal had a weekend retreat with his program at the Marriot on the edge of Edinburgh, and Eleanor and I were able to tag along.  She and I didn't do much aside from eat fancy food and watch two hours of the X Factor (we haven't had a TV our entire marriage! it was amazing.) but we had a wonderful time.  What is about staying in a hotel that is so exciting and makes you feel like you're on vacation even if you haven't left town? This one was pretty darn beautiful.  We explored the grounds just before sunset.

And now a bit about my baby girl.  This Saturday Eleanor will be eight months old.  Eight!!  When strangers ask her age, I often start to say 'four months,' because it seems like she was just there.  The first six months of her life we watched her age physically before our eyes; growing out of clothes every other week, the plumping up of her already chubby thighs and cheeks, and the grand appearance of eyebrows (a massive relief).  I never tired of the repetitive newborn wake-eat-sleep cycle, because it was so fun to watch her grow and to observe the world through her big blue eyes.

We've been in Scotland almost two months, and in the time that we've been here, this kid has gone from refusing baby food, sleeping through the night and sometimes-rolling-over to eating everything in sight, waking up every few hours, and gained an obsession with crawling and cruising.  It's like living with the Tasmanian Devil.

Eleanor never really liked processed baby food, and I really didn't like feeding it to her.  It smelled weird, was incredibly messy and every bite seemed to make her gag.  So I've started giving her pieces of almost whatever we're eating and she's taken to that so much better.  She prefers to feed herself with her determined pincer grasp. When I lift her into the high chair she gets soo excited and starts pounding on the tray until I give her some food. It's really cute, in a savage-y kind of way.

They say most babies go through a sleep regression around this age.  It's supposedly a "phase".  We really lucked out when E was a newborn because she slept 7-7 with one midnight feeding from just a few weeks old.  She always slept in her crib without a fight.  But recently the tables have turned.  She goes down fine, but wakes up every few hours, screaming at the top of her lungs.  We'll walk into her room to find her standing up, hands clenched on the crib rail, head back, wailing at the ceiling. As soon as she sees us she starts flapping her arms, the tears halt, and she squeals like a monkey.  So I'm pretty sure she wakes up, realizes we aren't with her, and freaks out.  We've definitely been dealing with separation anxiety during the day. She panics if I leave the room for two seconds.  She gets so frustrated if I'm doing laundry and walk from room to room while she's trying to crawl after me but can't keep up.  If I'm in the kitchen cooking or doing dishes, she's wrapped around my leg 80% of the time.  If I head to the bathroom, it's about 20 seconds before Eleanor zooms around the corner and barges in on me.  In a way, it makes me feel great that my kid likes me so much, but it's also difficult to function!  By the second or third time she wakes at night I just bring her into bed with us and and am woken in the morning by my wide-eyed daughter squeezing my face.  She insists on sleeping on top of me instead of between us, so I have to sleep on my back, which I hate.  I never wanted to co-sleep.  Our bed is supposed to be our bed.  But it's getting to the point that neither Neal or I even remember getting up in the night at all.  When we wake up we try to figure out which one of us brought her in and seldom can.  I mean, it's hard to correct a bad habit if you're doing it subconsciously.  So I'm hoping she grows out of this soon.  And I know I'm making it worse by letting her sleep with us.  Anybody have advice for our dilemma?

The more interactive Eleanor becomes, the more I enjoy being a parent.  She loves being read to; it's the only time she completely relaxes in my lap. I try to read to her between every nap and she's finally started paying attention to the pictures instead of trying to eat the book the whole time. We only packed eight or so board books from the dozens we had at home, so I have them all memorized and am honestly sick of them.  Eleanor has no idea of course, so I can't justify buying new books.  Kate suggested I find a library and I really need to, it would be a good way to get out of the house and spice up our reading material.

She also melts when we sing to her.  Part of her bedtime routine is "You Are My Sunshine" and she turns to jello, raises her arms above her head as I rock her, and starts 'singing' along.  She gets a sleepy smile and looks like she's in complete bliss.  Adorable enough that I strongly consider keeping her up with us for another hour.

Now for a photo dump:

The Blosser women sent us a package with some cold weather essentials! Looking out for E <3

Two seconds before she tried to eat the whole thing

We're proud of these thighs.

I think I'm done rambling.  Off to ponder crucially important things, like whether Eleanor should be a strawberry or a duck for Halloween.

Portobello Beach

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Portobello beach, which runs along the coast of the Firth of Forth. It was 65 degrees outside with just a little breeze, and we thought we should take advantage of the sun before it hides for the winter.

Who gave you a lick of ice cream? tsktsk.

This guy took a swim. Said it was absolutely freezing. This girl is happy she stayed on shore.

You're A-OK, Portobello beach.

my claim to fame

I have one claim to fame. One. This is the kind of thing I save for moments with new people or at parties where there is dreaded awkward silence, and it always instigates lots of interest and questions and even admiration.

Once upon a time.... I was Taylor Swift's waitress. 'Once upon a time' being a looong time ago. For reference, she was dating Taylor Lautner at the time. And her hair was still crazy long and crazy curly.

You may want to know: why am I blogging about this now? Today I was reflecting on my life history while ironing socks as my seven-month-old took a gloriously long afternoon nap and realized I have never recorded the one thing I may always be known for.  So this post is directed to my posterity: Your great-great-great grandmother was Taylor Swift's waitress. You don't know who Taylor Swift is? Google her. You still have Google, right?

So here's what happened (in excruciating detail):

I was living in Lawrence, Kansas and working at one of my favorite jobs of all time, Jefferson's Restaurant (Peace, Love and Hot Wings!). It was nearing closing time on a slow weeknight. Our manager, Sarah, was making up little slips of paper for each member of the waitstaff to draw: if you chose the one with the star, you got to head home early. She was interrupted with a phone call. We waited a little impatiently as she spoke with a customer, who was obviously asking about business hours. Sarah suddenly had a startled look on her face. She ended the call with "okay, see you in a little bit!" and the entire staff groaned. We were closing in half an hour, why would she encourage someone to come for dinner, inevitably order the most complicated menu item and stay way past 9:00?

She explained: "I think Taylor Swift is on her way." The guy on the phone had indeed asked about business hours and stated he had a party of 10 that would like to make reservations. Sarah informed him that our restaurant did not take reservations, and was in fact closing soon, but we would be happy to serve them if they arrived before then. The guy said "What if I told you Taylor Swift was a member of the group?" Sarah hesitated, but immediately assured him we would stay open for business and be glad to save a table (in the nearly empty restaurant).

There had been rumors that Taylor Swift had been visiting campus that week. Her best friend, the red-headed girl in this music video, attended KU on a swimming scholarship. She came into Jefferson's often. We knew her as "Taylor Swift's best friend who was in that music video". The best friend was a dreaded same-side-sitter with her boyfriend, but that's another story for another day.  So Sarah knew there was a slight--maybe even good--chance that this caller may be telling the truth, and we had better prepare in case he was.

So the slips of paper that were intended to free one of us waitresses were jostled in her hands for one of us to pick who would serve Her Majesty Taylor Swift. And guess who chose the piece of paper with the star? Bet you can't!

I'll be honest. I'm not a huge fan of Taylor Swift's music.  Neal is at least five times the fan I'll ever be. He loves the song "We are NEVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER!" especially the part "like, ever", and once we watched the movie Valentines Day and he laughed hysterically at all of her scenes as I criticized her lack of acting skills. I will admit, her songs are very catchy and I do know pretty much all the words to the most popular ones (read: all of them). Also, I follow her in instagram, but that isn't true fandom. What I am a fan of is meeting famous people, which has only happened to me one other time, in 9th grade, with LaVar Burton of Reading Rainbow at a William Allen White book conference (nerd!), and let's be real. I didn't meet him, I saw him.

So I was both thrilled and nervous when I realized I might get to take Taylor Swift's dinner order.  We all anxiously waited and sure enough, a posse strolled in with tall, beautiful, famous Taylor Swift in company.

This post is getting alarmingly long so I'm going to give you the cliff notes:

• She had a big number 13 (her favorite number, as everybody knows!) in glitter on her right hand
• She kept her blonde, curly head down, scrolling through her phone most of the time. She didn't talk much, or seem very interested in the people she was with. I couldn't see who she was texting but I was SURE it was Taylor Lautner.
• To eat: Chicken tenders and french fries from the kid's menu. Honey Mustard for dipping sauce. Only ate one chicken tender, did not want a to-go box. As I was entering her order in the computer, Sarah was reading over my shoulder and I said defiantly, "I am letting her order off the kids menu", which was strictly forbidden of customers over 12 years old. She just laughed.
• To drink: Diet Pepsi. I was too nervous and mesmerized by her beautiful, curly mane to grab her a refill, so I convinced my co-worker Morgan to do it. I also convinced her to deliver her meal. So basically...Morgan ended up being Taylor Swift's waitress. And I don't think "convinced" is the appropriate word here. Morgan had the confidence to reach around the golden curtain of hair and set the perfectly cooked chicken tenders down and say "here you go, Taylor!" What?! First name basis? I can't even mention her in this post by just her first name. Morgan's the name, confidence is the game. 
• Taylor Swift paid for her friend's meal, (the friend also ordered off the kids menu) so I think the total was 7ish dollars. She paid with a 20 and told me to keep the change. So she left me an approximately 186% tip. 
• Jefferson's walls and ceiling are absolutely covered in $1 bills. There are layers of these bills, decorated in marker by thousands of customers (am I making you want to rob the place?). Sarah brought Taylor Swift a dollar and some markers and politely asked if she would be willing to decorate one. And she did! Taylor Swift is quite the artist (as all of her instagram followers know) and made an "it's a love story" dollar bill that we all admired for some time after she had left.

There it is. Everything you'd want to know about being Taylor Swift's waitress at a wing joint. If you're wondering why I didn't get a picture with her, just remember that I was too scared to even refill her Diet Pepsi.

You would be intimidated by that hair too.

We've been up to...

...no good. Obviously.

Last week we took a little hike up Arthur's Seat (a very extinct volcano!) with Marisa and Paul. It was super foggy so we didn't have much of a view, but the mist itself was beautiful. We had a lot of fun, and Eleanor did great until we reached the summit, which was quite cold. She had some makeshift mittens (socks) on her hands, but her face was exposed and it was windy. So we scurried on down after just a few minutes up top.

Neal has mastered the 'summit pose'.

Marisa is moving back to the US tomorrow! Sad :( She's been such a huge help to us as we've made this transition.

On Saturday we took the train to Preston, England with our new (also ex-pat) friends, Dallin and Becki Barker. They have the most adorable family-- 3 (almost 4!)-year-old twins and a 15-month-old--all girls! Becki and the kids were actually on our flight from Chicago to Edinburgh (her husband had arrived a few days prior to get settled a bit) and they were just in front of us in line to board the plane. The next Sunday, we saw her sitting in the lobby as we walked into church! Dallin is also here for grad school-- getting his masters in HR at University of Edinburgh. Obviously we have a lot in common, and planned a temple trip so we could take turns going through as they watched Eleanor and we watched their girls. We took the train, and it was so much fun!

Out the train window: not *the* bridge from Harry Potter, but cool nonetheless

The girls did so well all day. Eleanor was in heaven watching the older kids play.  It's so hard for us to get a giggle out of her, but she just thinks "big kids" are hilarious. The twins, and her new hero Deaun, had her cracking up. The last half hour on the train home was pretty entertaining--all the girls were hungry, past due on naps, and approaching bedtime, and they were deliriously tired and giggly. It was kind of an exhausting trip, but so worth it. Hooray for new friends!

We also had Stake Conference, and of course it was wonderful. Our Stake President is way young--like 34 young--and he's been President for 5 years! Crazytown. After church, we put Eleanor down for a nap and Neal and I both just crashed. She usually naps for one hour max during the day, so we didn't set an alarm and just figured she would wake us up shortly. Three hours later I woke up, groggy and confused, and looked at my phone to check the time. It was 4:53PM. I was so out of it, I could not figure out what day it was, and I was 95% sure it was actually Monday morning. I shook Neal in a panic and asked what time he had class. I thought my phone must have reverted back to Kansas time or something because there was no way that was right...could it be that we had slept until dinnertime on Monday?? Was Eleanor alive? It took me a good 3 or 4 minutes to remember that we had laid down for a nap and it was Sunday afternoon. It was the worst and best feeling in the world! I hate to nap through an afternoon like that but obviously the three of us needed a good chunk of sleep. And I was so relieved we hadn't slept through an entire day. So we made some chicken curry for dinner and took a walk for some fresh air.

It's fall in the 'hood.

Monday has been full and busy. My mouth is dry because I've spent the last two hours talking on the phone to family members back home. We have a magic jack number that is FREE to call from the US, so if you want it, message or email me and we can chat!

My student has fallen asleep while studying after a long day of class + internship thingy. I can't bring myself to wake him up. But I can bring myself to take a sneaky picture.

Yep, that's this blog post! Now I'm going to hit 'publish'