Big T is 1!

Hi everyone!  It's been a busy few days here in London!  Here is the recap...  First on Friday night our new babysitter Alison came over and JJ and I went on our first date ever in London!  We decided to stay local and went out near our neighborhood.  I made reservations at a restaurant here at 9pm and we did a little pub crawl walking down there.   The pubs were fun, the food was great and we had a wonderful kid-free evening! 

Then it was time to prepare for our big birthday celebration for Tyler on Sunday.  This was hard for us as we would have loved to gather with family and friends for his birthday, but we made the best of it and had a nice little celebration here with the 3 of us and had a virtual party Skyping and Facetiming with folks.  Sunday we woke up and set up some of Tyler's new toys.  I still think that it is hilarious to listen to Tyler's toys speak with the accent.  It makes me want to send every kid I know a toy from here!  We then had reservations for "Sunday Roast" at the Freemason's Arms here in Hampstead.  It is right by the Heath (the big park here) and has a huge beer garden.  We walked in a couple Sundays ago hoping to have lunch but they told us they were completely booked.  So I called ahead this time and got us a booking (they don't say reservation here).  They must have just opened when we got there at noon and for a time we had the whole room to ourselves but then it quickly became crowded.  We got their Sunday Roast which is just a lot of meat (they had chicken, beef, and pork options) and potatoes, carrots, etc.  I got the chicken, JJ got the beef, and Tyler got some fish & chips (minus the chips).  It was so much food and super delicious.  Tyler was an angel the whole time for his birthday lunch.  He ate a lot of fish and didn't drop his sippy cup once so we let him have some of our Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert- a very British dessert and it was tasty.  After lunch we went to the nearby park.  It was also a rare beautiful day here.  It was about 50 degrees and sunny and just felt like spring.

We Skyped/FaceTimed with family and then it was time to have cake.  Now since it was such a small celebration I decided to make the cake, and since I'm on a bit of a healthy cooking kick I decided to try one of the sugar-free, good for you cakes.  Most of these called for frozen apple concentrate.  I looked all over for this and frozen concentrate is not something they do here (what am I going to do about Lime-aid for summer drinks!!!).  So like everything else that I can't find here, I decided to make it.  Turns out it is relatively easy.  You just boil some apples and then squeeze the juice out.  The cake turned out OK and Tyler really seemed to enjoy it.  It had a lot of bananas in it so it ended up tasting a lot like banana bread.  It probably wasn't as good of a smashing medium as some of the other cakes since it was pretty dense, but Tyler didn't seem to mind! 

On Monday for Tyler's actual birthday, he opened a couple more presents before JJ went to work and then we had a pretty typical day at home.  After all the nice weather on Sunday, we had a downpour Monday that still hasn't stopped so we stayed close to home and played inside.  Lucky Tyler got a birthday celebration again Monday night because in my family you HAVE to blow out candles on your birthday, it's an absolute must!  It has been crazy to think back and reflect on this year and how challenging, rewarding, and exciting it has been.  Definitely the most change occurred for us in 2012 than ever before.  Big T has been such a blessing to us and he has grown from a pretty darn good baby to an even better toddler before our very eyes! 

Now that the celebrations are over, Tyler and I are busy filling up our social calendar.  He loved spending time with the babysitter again today during the day.  Alison is going to come over and help me one day a week now.  I'm also meeting about a potential very part time job in mid-February so I wanted to line someone up in case I end up working a bit again.  Tyler loved spending time with her today.  I stuck around the house for the few hours that she was here so I could show her the routine and around the flat and Hampstead area.  It was great to see that Tyler didn't cling to me at all and loved showing her all of his toys and his sweet dance moves.  We are also getting more involved in the Women's Club here in Hampstead and have joined a playgroup and met a few mom's and tots through the club.  Most of the people I have met have been American so we share that instant connection and it has been nice to get to know them.  I'm hoping to meet a few Brits and people from other countries as well though!

Lots of pictures to share! 

Talking to the city cat on a walk with Dad

He loves his new car ramp!

Sunday Roast!

Sticky Toffee Pudding, yes please!

Beautiful day at the Freemason's Arms.  People are eating outside again!

Celebratory beverages for everyone!

Not the best looking cake, but it works :)

He has kind of already learned how to pose for the camera...

FaceTime cake chat with Grandma

Yum!  We thought he might throw up after eating so much but he kept it all down!

Shooter!

Birthday cake #2 chat with Grandpa Kern and Becky!

Birthday morning - Dad wait - that's MY present!

Big birthday boy!