Teases of Spring

I come to you from the lovely warmth of my conservatory in the back of my house. It is a hot box whenever the sun is out and I am basking in it as I take any vitamin D that the Lord provides us with here! (It snowed-didn't stick-2 days ago). I am not very good at blogging often, I can finally say that I am "BUSY"! With all the lockdowns and restrictions I have been (dare I say) BORED. Things are starting to ease here, more vaccinations are being given, and the rate of infections are going down. Emme is going to preschool 3 mornings a week and I work 2 out of those 3 mornings. It leaves me with every Thursday to get STUFF done (i.e. grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, errands, etc). Emme is loving preschool, although her immune system currently is being challenged. She has had 2 different viruses, needed a dose of steroids at one point, and 10 days of ear drops. She is not pleased with us, that is for sure. She comes out of school always telling me about "Miss Laura", the dinosaurs and tea set she plays with, and the songs shes sang. It's really quite sweet when she comes out with a craft or treat she has made. So proud of herself. She's learning a million miles a minute and her speech is really incredible. Some of the things she asks me or the sentences she says really has me taken a back at times. I'm brought back to the reality of her age (2years, 8 months) when she still refuses to go on the big girl potty and her saying things like, "I did a big poo on the washing line", while at her uncle and auntie's house last week. We often "watch videos on mommy's phone", which are videos on my phone of her, mostly (ever since birth). She loves watching herself and refers to herself in the third person while watching. "Look what baby Emme has in her hands!" "Why is baby Emme crying?" I love looking back at them, although I do get sad sometimes as I think Emme is starting to forget things in America. For example, the other day we were watching and she couldn't tell me the names of the dogs we had when we lived there (they are now back with my Mom). She always remembers the people (Papi, Mimi, Aunt Heidi, Uncle Brian, her cousins, Grandma, Aunt Christy etc), but she is not remembering things about our old home or places we went or toys she used to love and adore. This is all to say, she loves her home here and has lovely things she likes to play with here as well as lovely friends and family she adores as well. My job with the COVID Team doing Test & Trace is slowing right down. The cases are less frequent so we are busying ourselves with data entry and analysis regarding everything we have done in the last two 'waves'. It keeps me busy while on shift. I have recently been approached by the "private clinic' here in our town in regards to helping them with Pediatric clinics that they run. Originally, I was supposed to eventually be the Peds clinic nurse, however, with Covid, all clinics shut down and there wasn't a need for me. They are back up and running and busier than ever as another clinic in the area recently closed their pediatric services. From my understanding, there are no Peds trained/Peds experienced nurses currently working in their clinic and rather are adult nurses doing the best they can with blood draws and other tasks. The manager of the clinic is really excited to come have me do whatever "Bank/Extra Shifts" I can to help them out! She would love to have me help train other nurses on pediatric skills such as blood draws, IV's, urinary catheters, etc. I will have to hone my inner "Jill Eads" and do the best I can!! (If you know, you know). For now, I will do clinics with them every Friday afternoon and increase as I can. Daniel is loving his new job working for a pool and spa company in a town about 30 minutes from us closer to London. Some of the photos of the pools and homes he goes to are quite extraordinary. It's a small company run by just his boss, himself, and one other co-worker. He really enjoys both of the men and say they are very nice. We had a lovely Easter! We're now allowed to gather as a group of 6 individuals OR two family households. We were blessed with beautiful sunny weather during the week and were able to have our first gathering in our back yard/garden. Easter was another sunny and warm day and we went to Daniel's brother's home where we had a lovely lunch and egg hunt with the kids. It has literally been cold ever since, go figure! This weekend is our 6th wedding anniversary, April 11th, and wouldn't you know, shops and outdoor dining open the day after..April 12th. This weekend is forecasted for rain and snow so we will likely get a nice meal as takeout and watch a film at home. We will attempt to go out for an outdoor meal once it gets a bit warmer in the next 2-3 weeks. Come mid May you are allowed to gather in larger groups and do some traveling/holidays. We have booked a little get away to a beach an hour south of us where we will stay for 4 nights. One of the days we are there, we are taking Emme to Peppa Pig World, which I am sure she will be thrilled with!! We've booked a night away in July for mine and my sister-in-law's birthdays as well as a week away in August to a Caravan Park in Devon--More on this closer to time. It will be quite an interesting experience as an American!!! :) Other very English things I have been getting accustomed to.... -DRIVING A CAR. I have been getting quite confident driving on the RIGHT side of the car on the LEFT side of the road. I still get slightly nervous whenever I come to a round a bout and I've only been honked and flipped off TWICE. -WAITING IN QUEUES. This is British slang for 'waiting in lines'. Literally everywhere you go you wait in a queue. It doesn't really matter the time of day or place you go. It's definitely worse on the weekends and in the "school holidays", but you pretty much have to factor in an extra 10-15minutes anytime you go anywhere to wait in line. -BAGGING MY GROCERIES. If putting my groceries in bags at the check out counter were a sport, I would lose. I am getting better but you have to be SO strategic and FAST when you go to the stores to check out. You know what Aldi is like in America? That's everywhere. But instead of them placing your groceries aggressively into your shopping cart/trolley, you have to be quick as lightning to put them in your bags. One misstep and you have a frozen bag of peas on top of your bread and milk jugs crushing your eggs. You might say, what is the rush?? You can just FEEL the eyes of the customers behind you glaring and wishing you would hurry up as well as the sharp and loud exhale of the til assistant (checkout guy/gal) if you take too long. -TALKING ABOUT THE WEATHER. You aren't having a conversation with someone if its not first about the weather. I don't even think it's really about the weather, but rather a segway conversation to more meaningful conversation or a polite greeting. -CHILLING OUT AT WORK. I am so used to showing up at work and going from the moment that clock turns 0700. I used that same ethic and enthusiasm in my current from home job and realized I think I am the only one. If you try to get going at the second it turns 0800 everyone is like "relax Jamie, have a cup of tea, we will get started soon". It's odd to me. Daniel says the same thing, lots of tea/coffee breaks and chit chat (most likely about the weather and football). The pace is just a lot slower for everything here (except bagging your groceries). -GOING OUT IN ANY WEATHER. As long as its not "chucking it down" with rain, we go out. -WALKING. I get so annoyed when I have to drive Emme to school. It's such a "faff" to get her in and out the carseat and walk her up the path. It's much easier to put her in the stroller or trike to walk her over. It likely takes similar amount of time. I also get quite irked to have to drive to the store for anything, I much prefer to walk if I only need a few items. Same situation, faff to drive, park, round a bouts, etc. -OFFERING A DRINK. You get offered a drink anytime you go anywhere, usually people's homes. It's the first thing they ask!! Well, I must have been assumed quite rude when the electrician was here a few weeks ago for about 4 hours and I didn't offer him anything, whoops! Now I am going above and beyond and once someone has finished a drink on my patio I am offering them another one about every 5-10 minutes until they give in, say yes, and I go try to figure out how to make the drink they have requested (tea). Emme will shortly wake from her nap so this is all the blogging I can do for now. Hope everyone is happy and healthy. I miss everyone far and wide and even those here in Basingstoke as well, I hope to see everyone very very soon!!! -Jamie