10 Month Birthday!

Another month has passed and our big boy turned 10 months old yesterday!  I can't believe that I only have 2 more stickers left... it goes so fast!  Here are some pictures of Tyler.  I can't help myself and end up just gazing at him when the sun is coming in the window while he eats or when we are walking in the park and his eyes twinkle.  I think this blog is starting to become like everything else in our household, all about Tyler :)

So excited he's another month older!

Those baby blues again during lunch

Apparently lunch was not satisfying enough

English Flu Hits the Kerns

We figured out a new way to shed the extra pounds of Thanksgiving, get sick!  After basking in the delight of pulling off a full Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, we unfortunately did not get the chance to enjoy many leftovers.  Saturday morning as we were finishing putting the rest of Tyler's room together, nausea hit me out of nowhere.  Sure enough it progressed into a nasty flu bug.  Luckily JJ was home and could take care of Tyler and ESPN America was showing the Michigan game so I could lay on the couch and watch TV all day.  I went to bed early on Saturday night and woke up in the middle of the night sick again.  JJ got up to check up on me and then he felt his wave of nausea hit.  We were both a mess!  Thankfully by Sunday morning I was feeling a bit better and could take care of Tyler while JJ was feeling the worst of his flu.  And also thankfully Tyler did not get sick.  I'm still hoping that it was the flu and not food poisoning from our turkey :)

It was unfortunate that we were both feeling bad this weekend because there was a big Christmas festival in Hampstead right outside our door.  Sunday was a beautiful day and I wanted to get Tyler out of the sick house so we walked around a bit.  At the festival were carnival rides, reindeer, ice skating, music and lots of food and shopping.   There was also Santa there but I wasn't feeling up for waiting in the long line so we will have to see Santa in the US!  It would have been fun to spend the day walking around but it wasn't in the cards for the Kerns this year.  The tree lighting ceremony was right outside our door on the High Street so we all ventured out for that Sunday evening.  There was a big build up to the tree lighting and there was a loud countdown and lots of cheering when it lit up.  Our delicate flower, Tyler, was scared of all the loud noises and started crying just after the tree lighting.  We took that as our cue to leave and maneuvered through the crowd to get back home.  Hopefully next year we are all feeling more up for the festival.

Yesterday we were both feeling a bit better but JJ was still feeling weak and queasy so he worked from home to fully recover.  This was nice because we didn't get a chance to take our photo for the Christmas card over the weekend so we popped outside at lunch and took some photos.  I had this grand vision of Tyler popping out of a photo booth wearing a Santa hat with a London scene in the background.  My vision wasn't totally achieved but we took a couple good photos and had to get creative when Tyler refused to wear the Santa hat.  You will have to wait for the actual Christmas card to see the real photo but I've posted some outtakes below. 

We will be home for Christmas in just over a week and I can't wait!  It's so strange to not decorate for Christmas this year.  Every year for the past 10 years or so I would spend part of Thanksgiving weekend decorating the house from top to bottom with Christmas music playing loud.  We even got a real Christmas tree the past four years.  But all my decorations are in storage this year and there is no point in trying to decorate this place since we are leaving so soon.  So we will just enjoy the decorations of others when we are home! 

Now today we went to the Community Center again for music class.  Tyler was tentative again with the other kids around and hung close to me.  The songs make me laugh.  They are for the most part the same as the children's songs in the US but have a little different spin.  For instance on The Wheels on the Bus, instead of saying at the end of the verse "All through the town" they say "All day long."  Then for Ring Around the Posey instead of saying "Ashes, ashes, we all fall down" they say "Achoo Achoo, we all fall down" (like the sneeze - weird!).  There were other strange differences and songs I didn't know, but Big T and I sat back and watched and I sang what I knew and a good time was had by all.

Hampstead Christmas Festival just before the tree lighting.  In the midst of Tyler's breakdown I forgot to snap a picture of the lights.

Tyler watching the show

Photo shoot inside before going out.  I realized looking at this picture that his hair needed a trim again so I cut it last night.

Tortured little soul who refused to put on the Santa hat and his laughing mother :)

The double hat got him to forget about the Santa hat.  Look at those baby blues!

Backwards Santa baby

Watching during music class

Happier when the other kids left and he could play solo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  It really made me miss the USA and family today but we were determined to bring Thanksgiving to London.  Our 5kg turkey was delivered Wednesday.  In case you were wondering about turkeys over here, here is the description of our bird: "Select Farm Turkey is reared on the Irish borders, in the counties of Monaghan, Eire, and Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. They enjoy natural daylight, fresh air and darkness at night for sleeping, encouraging their natural behaviour."  I was a bit intimidated about cooking a full Thanksgiving meal.  Thank goodness for YouTube.  We watched videos about how to prepare and stuff a turkey, how to insert a meat thermometer and how to carve a turkey and our turkey was delicious!  JJ had to work, but took a half day to come home to help me prepare the meal.  We got the turkey in the oven and Tyler woke up from his afternoon nap so we decided to make a new tradition of heading to the pub right down the road for a bit.  Tyler enjoyed his Cheerio snack there and JJ and I enjoyed some pints.  Then we came back home to Skype with friends and family and prepare the rest of the food.  We had to deal with some adverse conditions in the kitchen.  First of all, our kitchen is tiny, about 3 feet wide, so there is no space for two people.  Second, our kitchen light stopped working yesterday so we brought a bedside table lamp upstairs, but it didn't provide much light.  Third, the roasting pan that I brought here to the UK specifically for turkey cooking we discovered today didn't fit in our tiny Euro oven.  Then there is also the curious toddler who likes to grab on to legs while you are in the kitchen, crowding the space even more.  But we made it all work.  For dinner we had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, applesauce and pumpkin pie.   It was so good!  Thank you Sarah and Auntie Sue for the recipes!  It was like a little glorious touch of home.  The only thing that wasn't too good was the gravy, I will have to work on that next year.  Since the turkey got in the oven late, we had to push dinner time back a bit.  We wanted to dine with Tyler though so we gave him an extra little catnap to get him through to dinner time which was 7:30pm (bedtime is usually at 7).  He was a little slap happy but enjoyed his meal and seeing all the friends and family on the computer screen on Skype.  They even showed the football games on TV here (darn Lions!). 

All in all, it wasn't like being home in the US, but we had a nice little Thanksgiving here with the 3 of us.  We have so much to be thankful for and hope that you all had a nice holiday too! 

Tyler in his Thanksgiving outfit

Turkey bottom!

At the pub!

"If this turkey tastes half as good as it looks, we're all in for a real treat!"

Expert carver!

"Can we eat already?!?!?!"

Aerial view of dinner.  All my serving dishes are in storage back in home but we made it work! 

mmmmm!

Our tiny kitchen after clean-up with the small lamp lighting!

Paris

We got back from Paris last night.  What a great trip!  Tyler and I went out early on Thursday to stay with my friend Jenny at her apartment that she rented for a week.  I was a little nervous about traveling with Tyler by myself but figured we were definitely up for it so we headed off to the Eurostar train.  The Eurostar is a high speed train that goes in a tunnel under the English channel.  You can get from London to Paris in 2 hours and 20 minutes.  Besides a couple little hiccups, the journey was a success.  Thankfully the Eurostar staff is very helpful and helped me with my baggage and stroller while I boarded with my huge, squirmy baby.  We arrived in Paris in the evening and set out to walk around the cute village that Jenny was staying in.  It was the Ile-Saint-Louis and on the small island right across from Notre Dame.  The location was incredible and really felt like old world Paris with narrow streets and little cafes and shops.  We had a lovely dinner outside at a cafe and then came back to the apartment to put Tyler to bed while Jenny and I had a bottle (or two) of Bordeaux on her balcony.  Paris was cold but we snuggled in with some candles and blankets and had a blast catching up.  Friday we got up and had the most amazing crepes I have ever had.  For those of you that know, I'm a huge fan of crepes and unfortunately having them in Paris may have ruined them for me anywhere else.  Tyler enjoyed my egg, cheese, and ham crepe as well.  Since we were in no particular hurry, we ate late and just decided to spend the day shopping (and eating) around the Ile-Saint-Louis.  It was wonderful!  We stopped for lunch and had delicious French Onion soup.  The French do not have high chairs so luckily Tyler loves French bread so much that we could eat in peace while he chowed on pieces of bread while sitting on my lap.  We decided to get more crepes for dinner and I put Tyler to bed while Jenny ran out for the crepes and more Bordeaux.  Our dinner crepe was tuna, egg, and cheese and was as delicious as my breakfast crepe.  We had another evening on the balcony and JJ joined us when his night train arrived.

Saturday we had another lovely breakfast.  One of the best things about Paris is the breakfast I think!  Then we headed off for Versailles.  None of us had ever been there and Jenny had read about the gardens there that sounded cool so we took the 1/2 hour train ride there.  The palace was stunning.  It was apparently the vacation home of King Louis XIV.  There was the biggest garden there that I had ever seen.  We wondered around it for about an hour while Tyler slept.  This kid has slept through some of the most beautiful parks in the world now!  We took the train back to Paris and stopped at the Eiffel Tower.  At the Eiffel Tower we took lots of great pictures and it was getting dark so the lights came on.  It was a beautiful setting.  We wanted to keep walking so we walked from the Eiffel Tower to the Ile-Saint-Louis which is actually quite far.  It was beautiful to see Paris at night.  We walked to the Louvre and saw that lit up and kept gazing back at the Eiffel Tower as well.  Tyler took another late evening snooze so that we could all go to dinner together.  JJ and I didn't want to impose on Jenny another night so we got a hotel Saturday night.  I wanted to get it as close to Jenny as I could.  Most hotels were booked but there was a strange hotel inside of a hospital that had decent rates.  It was the strangest thing - you walk into the hospital with all the doctors and patients, etc and there is a small section that is a hotel.  There were even stretchers right before the entrance to the hotel.  It was weird, but it was clean and not expensive so that was our choice!  After checking in and we headed off to dinner.  We stumbled upon what looked like a small cafe.  When we walked in we saw that it went way far back and was packed.  It was an adorable place.  It was a fixed price menu and was kind of a cross between family and buffet style.  They brought out a huge basket full of fresh vegetables that you could eat.  The thing that still makes me laugh is that when we first got to the table there was another party right next to us sharing the long table.  Their basket of vegetables was right next to us since we were sharing a table so Jenny thought it was for the full table and started cutting off pieces from their basket.  When they delivered the basket of our own, we couldn't stop laughing at what those people thought when Jenny was eating from their basket.  Most likely "Stupid Americans!"  After the veggies there was a station with couscous and dips and olives.  The waiter asked your choice of meat and they did meat kebobs cooked right off the grill (they offered an omelet for Jenny). And the house wine was in casks and was included in the fixed price.  There were two guys playing guitars and singing who would travel around the restaurant.  Until then Tyler had been pretty active on JJ's lap but when the men came over he was mesmerized by the music and just stood on JJ's lap clapping and laughing and dancing.  All the other tables thought it was cute and for about 15 minutes JJ actually got to eat.  It was a great dinner but soon all the dancing caught up with Tyler and he was tired so JJ took him back to the hotel while Jenny and I continued our night out (I have the best husband, right?).  Jenny and I had a blast and continued chatting and drinking our wine.  We met a few interesting Parisians and then called it a night pretty late.

The next morning we got up and took our train back to London.  It was a wonderful weekend and we are excited to go back to Paris soon.  It has also been great to reconnect with old friends.  I hadn't spent a full week with Jenny in years so it was so nice to see her again.  With my girlfriends from Oxford, although we may not see each other much anymore, when we do it falls right back into place.  Her trip came at a great time and I'm so glad that she came!  Now we are having lunch one more time tomorrow when she travels through London to take her flight home to Washington DC.

Back here in London we are really starting to make a home for ourselves.  We are almost fully unpacked and Tyler seems to enjoy it here.  The turkey for Thursday is ordered and I'm making a full Thanksgiving dinner for our little family.  Thanks to Auntie Sue and Sarah, I have my recipes ready and am actually a little excited to put dinner together!  Wish me luck.  We will miss family as this is the first Thanksgiving away from family, ever but hopefully we will get a chance to Skype or chat with nearly everyone.  Lots of pictures to share today!   Oh and I think I changed the settings so that anyone can comment on the blog now, not just those with gmail, but let me know if not.  I'm still learning!

Me and my travel buddy on the Eurostar

Notre Dame

The lock bridge by Notre Dame.  People leave locks with messages here.

Tyler having the best time ever at Jenny's apartment

Very interested in my crepe...

Smiling at Jenny

Tyler eating his favorite food - French bread!

The back of the Palace of Versailles

Jen and I at the Garden of Versailles

The Kerns!

One of many Eiffel Tower photos

Playing at the base of the Eiffel Tower - it's pretty good to be Tyler Kern!

Paris at night

Louvre at night

My favorite corner on Ile-Saint-Louis

Back home here in London trying to eat leaves at the park today.  He wouldn't stop putting them in his mouth!

Our First Visitor!

We have been busy finally moving into our flat.   The movers came on Friday and were here most of the day.  Luckily they assembled most of our furniture and we quickly unpacked the boxes while they were here so that they could take them all away.  It feels SO good to be sitting on a couch right now in comfort.  And sleeping in a bed was amazing.  When everything was in the house I wasn't sure if we had space for everything.  But the storage here is really clever and everything fits quite nicely actually.  Living off of basically nothing for so long made us realize that we have just too much stuff!  Tyler is loving the furniture though.  He cruises around hanging on to the ottoman, the couch, etc.  And I think he really likes have a rug to play on again too.  We spent most of the weekend unpacking, organizing, and putting together Ikea furniture but Sunday was a really nice day so we escaped and took a walk to one of the many playgrounds in the park.  Tyler got to play in the sandbox for the first time and although he was a little apprehensive about how sand felt on his hands at first, he ended up loving it.

Monday morning my good friend from Oxford (but now lives in DC), Jenny White arrived here in London.  She decided to take a week vacation in Paris and is starting and ending her trip in London.  Our furniture came just in time for a guest to be comfortable here!  She came up to the flat to drop off her luggage and then we went off sightseeing.  It was horrible weather.  I don't think it stopped raining at all during the day but we rode around on the tube and still managed to hit a lot of the sights.  We went to Westminster, Big Ben, Tower Bridge & Tower of London, and Notting Hill.  We had some unusual dining experiences.  We went to a local restaurant right outside my door for breakfast.  The only booth left on the heated patio had a cat sleeping on it.  The waitress asked if we wanted her to move it and we decided that as long as it was a nice cat that we would just have breakfast with her.  The cat slept pretty much the whole time, but it was bizarre dining with a stray cat.  Then Jenny wanted fish and chips so we stopped in one of the first pubs we saw in Notting Hill because Tyler was getting a little fussy and we needed to get him out of the stroller.  It was a pub that had this strange ballroom dining room and so quiet in there you could hear a pin drop.  We were one of the only people in there.  The fish and chips was OK but probably not the best in London.  Jenny was a trooper and even after flying all night, she was still up for checking out a couple local Hampstead pubs.  We had a great time catching up and it was wonderful to see a friendly face from home.  This was the first night out that I have had since we moved here and it felt great.  I really need to look at finding Tyler a babysitter so that JJ and I can go out sometime.

This morning was a beautiful day.  Of course it figures that on the day Jen left it was lovely after we walked around in the rain all day yesterday.  In the morning we got a traditional English breakfast.  I thought it looked absolutely disgusting but wanted to try it to see what all the fuss was about.  It actually wasn't that bad...  although I could definitely do without the mushrooms and baked beans.  And I'm not really a fan of the bacon here.  It's like Canadian bacon.

Now Jenny is on the train headed off to Paris and we are going there to meet her Thursday - Sunday.  JJ is going to meet us there after work on Friday too!  So it should be another fun filled travel week!
 

At the park

Interested in a young English boy's cement truck

Jenny and the breakfast cat

Westminster Abbey had a large Veteran's Day memorial set up

Jen and I at Tower Bridge

Full English breakfast.  Jenny's is veggie.

Beautiful day at Hampstead Heath - that warm weather from the US came our way today!

View of the city from the Heath

Settling In

We woke up to view the results of the election this morning.  From the looks of my Facebook feed, people are either crazy excited or think the end of the world is coming.  Since this is an upbeat blog I will refrain from any political comments.  I'm just glad its over and hope that somehow we can all move forward together.

Now on to the English business, we are starting to actually settle in quite well.  Tyler and I have been getting out in the community and doing some events.  Yesterday we went to our first "mum" and me class.  It was a music class put on by the Hampstead Community Center which is basically right outside our door.  It was held in a nice little playroom and a woman with a microphone was singing songs. They also had lots of instruments for the kids to explore.  The ages of kids ranged from around Tyler's age to about 3.  It's crazy because Tyler is the same size as some of the older kids but I forget that there is still so much that he can't do compared to the older ones.  At home he is crazy and babbling and moving all over the place, but at class he seemed a little taken aback.  He stayed close to me the whole time but also had a big smile on his face while he observed the other kids.  They had a little snack time that Tyler enjoyed and then it was "open play".  I'm hoping that he opens up a bit more when we go back.  He's so funny, he didn't really want anything to do with interacting with the other kids but boy was he charming all the moms :)  They also offer a "cooking" and art class at the community center so I think we will make regular visits there.

Then today we went to the library and got our library card and learned about some more classes for kids that we will check out.  After the library we went into the Hampstead Heath - our local park.  They have a few different playgrounds there and today we went to the biggest one - the "Adventure Playground."  Oh Tyler loved it!  I think that will be a favorite for both of us.

Now we are just waiting for all of our things to come on Friday!!! We really can't wait.  After Friday this place will finally feel like home I think.  Although its been a huge transition for me, I'm starting to get a little more used to my stay at home role.  I think going to the "mum and me" classes will make it easier.  And I've actually enjoyed cooking our meals for the whole whole family and am getting adventurous - I made a coconut butternut squash chicken curry that is delicious!

My friend from Oxford Jenny White gets here on Monday!  She's spending a night in London and then headed off to Paris.  I think Tyler and I are going to join her for a couple days in Paris so more travels are coming!

Always love to swing!  This one has a "choo choo" that runs behind it though so I think is a favorite!

He is so interested in the older kids.  He stood there and just watched them running around.  Yes I realize this hat is kind of funny.  I had to buy something to keep him warm!  All other warm weather clothes are coming Friday!

View of the sports fields at Hampstead Heath

Another view of the Heath.