New Year’s Panic

It’s 11.30 on New Year’s Eve, and I am sitting at the computer in a panic, while other people party on telly behind me (currently, it’s Lulu yelling huskily and shaking her backside — saints preserve me!). M has gone down to the pub with promises to be home before midnight, and the girls [...]

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Feeling the Failure… No, Looking to the Future

I sat on the couch today with tears in my eyes. I have been reading Homeward Bound : A Spouse’s Guide to Repatriation by Robin Pascoe and, while it’s a good read and quite helpful, sometimes I hate it because it deals with issues I don’t want to think about and then the reality [...]

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Things I am Looking Forward to about the States, Part 3

We’ve spent most of the past few days packing — an emotionally draining way to spend the holidays. Actually, we’ve mostly been throwing out. I joked to M that by the time we’ve thrown out all the collected junk that fills every available space around here, we’ll discover that this house is big [...]

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Identity

I learned something about myself in the past few days: I finally understand one of the driving forces that has shaped my entire life. After years of not knowing, I realise what brought me to Britain, and why it has been so important to me to be here, and why I am finding it [...]

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Every Night, A Disappointment

Every night, I think, tonight might be the night!  And every night, I am disappointed.
The baby wakes me up every three hours to feed — sometimes it’s two hours, sometimes it’s four, sometimes it’s one.  It’s been nearly a year and she is still calling for me again and again, every night.  I can count [...]

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Things I Think I’ll Miss About Britain

The other side of looking forward to things in the States is realising how much I will miss about Britain. I find myself missing places I haven’t even left yet and pining for things that are still all around me. I feel it’s only right to face head-on this sadder side of my [...]

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She Does What She Sees

My daughter’s two favourite activities are 1) breastfeeding and 2) changing nappies. That is, she breastfeeds her bears and she changes her bears’ nappies. She does both with remarkable realism.
For the former, she puts the Boppy cushion on her lap (“Boppy cushion, Bear!”), arranges a blanket under his head (“Blan-kenet, Bear!”) [...]

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What a Strange School System!

I’ve just discovered something startling about the town we are moving to: the school system is administered through employers, so that you register your children for school through your HR department at work. It seems a bit odd to me — how on earth is my daughters’ education connected to my husband’s work in [...]

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Things to Look Forward to in the US, Part 2

This week I have been swinging wildly between excitement and despair about this move. In one moment, I can be full of enthusiasm about the life I am heading toward, and within seconds I can racked with grief — and it truly is grief — for the home I am leaving behind. But [...]

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Follow Up Appointment: the Result

We went to hospital today for a combined appointment for the girls: E2’s follow-up appointment and E1’s allergy test. The pediatrician had realised that his secretary had scheduled separate appointments one week apart and, aware that it takes us about an hour to get to the hospital, he very kindly arranged to have them [...]

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