The things your kids do

So last night my Alden decided he didn't want to go to sleep at all. So at about 9:25 we put him in his crib to go to bed (ever since we got back from vacation he wants to cuddle with mommy on my bed before he goes to sleep) So he is in there crying and yelling "Out, Out, Out" Then we here this little thump like he threw something out of his crib. So I think he threw out one of his stuffed animals or something. Rodney goes to open the door to check on it, and low and behold my kiddo is standing at the door with a BIG smile on his face. He comes running into my bedroom with that huge smile, put's his arms up in the air and yells "MaMa" It's times like these where you know you are supposed to be mad at them, but instead you find yourself smiling and chucking at them. Not sure how he got himself out of the crib, but all I know is he was very proud of himself.

Needless to say we are shopping for a toddler bed tonight.

Trip Part 2 England(Part 1)

So after traveling for 2 ½ hours via train from Paris it was now time to try to find our train to get to Bedford. After asking some very helpful people we ran down to the platform to catch our train. It was nice to finally be able to ask questions and understand people. I was really nervous about finding our house boat. I had all these fears in my head that we were gonna get lost, get on the wrong train, etc etc. So when we got off at the train station another very helpful gentleman helped us out and rather than walking we decided we would grab a cab to make it easier. They dropped us off at the hotel near the marina so we had to do some searching, but found the check in for the boat. We checked in and got our key.

She was a decent sized boat, although our bed was a bit on the small side. Since the boat had a kitchen in it we decided we would go get some groceries at the nearest grocery store. We headed out for about a mile and went to the Tesco. Everything was pretty decent priced which was nice considering the exchange rate. So of course while we were shopping we forgot that we were walking, and we had bought enough food for the week. It ended up being a rather comical walk home.

So Rodney cooked us up a very yummy chicken along with potatoes and some wine. It was a very yummy dinner. We went to bed really early that night so we could get an early start the next day.

We had to head to London to pick up our pass for some of the things we wanted to see, so we jumped on the 9:30 am train thinking that would get us there and back with plenty of time. What I wasn’t prepared for was someone to jump in front of our train!!! We were about 20 min from London when all of a sudden this horrible sound happens. I figured it was some garbage that was sitting on the tracks. So they make an announcement that we hit something and that we were going to stop for a minute. So about 15 minutes goes by and then a ton of passengers on the train start getting phone calls from people saying, are you on the train that hit somebody. Nice. SO they start making an announcement every 20 minutes or so that we were delayed due to a person being hit in the area. By this time everyone has figured out that we have hit a person. After 2 ½ hours of sitting on the train the Police finally showed up. After they collected the evidence, we were finally allowed to leave about 3 ½ hours later. Of course we didn’t bring any food or things to do because we jumped on the fast train to London!!! Yeah we found out that they aren’t always so fast. So after transferring to a different train and finally getting into the station well after 3:00 we start walking to find the place to pick up our tickets. London is a very large. So after walking for an hour and a half we finally found the place for the tickets. To bad it closed at 3:00!!! We jumped on the tube, headed back to the train station and went back to the boat.

We spent the next day sleeping in and walking around Bedford, which was the town we were staying in. It was nice to just kind of check out the sites. We went to High Street and checkout out some of the stores (as anyone who knows us can attest, we love to shop, especially on vacation) We found a ton of cute clothes for all of us. We decided to hold out until later in the trip to buy them. Then we went to a pub and had some dinner, went back to the boat and hung out. The one bad thing about England was that EVERYTHING closed up really early. Restaurants closed at like 8:00 and the pubs were shut down by 11:00 pm. We were not really used to that.

We decided that today was the day we were going to get our pass and that we were not going to go to London again so we went to Dover instead. So after riding the train for 4 ½ hours we finally got to Dover. In Dover is one of the largest castles in England, called Dover castle.

I really wanted to go check it out, but since we really wanted to see Bodium Castle we decided to head there. So after another 2 hour train ride we made it to the town to see Bodium. We took our most expensive cab ride yet (25 pounds)

Our trip part 1 - Paris

I am in love with Paris. I cannot even begin to express how magical it is. Our first night there was so magical. We had just had two plane rides for a total of 13 hours, then we had a train ride for 2 more. We had a few issues finding our hotel, as much as I am a planner for some reason I didn't really study up on the streets in Paris. We found our hotel showered and then headed out.

We had no idea where we were going, just that we were in Paris so it didn't matter. We walked across the River Seine and we saw the Eiffel Tower behind us, which just kind of really struck me. We ended up walking to this huge building and this music was playing. We just thought it was beautiful so we thought we would explore

So we round the corner and low and behold it's the Louve, and there is this guy just playing the saxaphone!!! It was so romantic. That first night I realized why it's refered to as The City of Lights.

The next day we headed over to Notre Dame. We went to get coffee and pastries for breakfast. first. There were two things that we learned that morning, they do not give you lids and to wait for ALL your change :) We realized about 5 min after we left that we paid 17 Euro for a 4.50 Euro meal!! Then Rodney tripped and spilled coffee all over his hand :)

Once we turned the corner and saw Notre Dame!!!!

I think Notre Dame was my favorite. After you walk up a bunch of winding stairs (which in and of itself was an event) You get to the top for this view

Words cannot express how awe inspiring and breathtaking this is. So I won't even try. Not only did I fall in love with the view, but I loved the gargoyles that were there to "protect" the church. I will spare you a ton of pictures, I will just put a few of my favorites up. My #1 favorite one is the one sticking his toungue out.

Then we walked up and ton more spiral stairs and got to the very top of the Cathedral. It was so cool to be able to look down on the city like that.

Long Time

It has been a long time since I last posted. I guess you can say life got in the way :) I have made a promise to myself to update this more so that I can have a running memory of things. I have realized that life is starting to go by way to quickly and that I am forgetting things. So this has got to be a good way to remember it all right???

Yes I plan everything

So Kendra and I were talking the other day and she had brought up Alden's first birthday. Of course I hadn't thought of it but maybe once. So she got me thinking about it. So I was doing some research on things for his b-day and can I just say they have so much stuff!!!! I think we are going to do an Elmo theme since he goes bannana's over Elmo. They have the cutest stuff ever. Now I am all excited about his birthday, which might I add is only 4 months away :) Now I have another thing I can plan and get all excited over.

Venting

Do you ever meet those people or read something that just pisses you off? I spent the last two days around a bunch of whiny women where nothing was good enough for them (not all just a few) and then I got to hear them all talk about how perfect they are. GRRRR I knew there was a reason I don't get along with all women.

Then I am reading this thing on the web about how women who feel that having a kid is hard at all are weak and aren't doing it right. I'm sorry, but it isn't that easy. It's so rewarding and I love my son and my family more than anything, but it's by far the hardest job I have ever had. I am constantly worried am I doing the right thing, making the right choices, is he eating the right thing, the right amount, am I producing enough, will I ever lose the baby weight. It makes me so mad when people go on and on about how there kid slept through the night at 2 months and they have never had so much as a runny nose. BITE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope your next one dosn't sleep through the night until they are 12. They talk about how women shouldn't be working and that the role for us is to be SAHM. I love working and I think I'm a better mother because of it. I know I am lucky to have a family member to take care of my son. I have a right to choose to stay home or work. Ok, sorry I just had to vent.

Alden is feeling much better. It was hard to be away from him for two nights. The training was pretty good, but I missed my boys. Tomorrow we are doing my mothers day and going to breakfast and the zoo. Then Sunday we are doing mother's day for our mom's. It is going to be a very busy weekend, I'm looking forward to it.

My poor baby

So Alden is really sick for the first time. He has a viral cold and an ear infection. My poor baby. Monday night he slept a total of three hours!!!!! Last night he slept a bit better, up every three hours. I have been up since 5:00 am though and it sucks. It's so hard to watch the little guy in so much pain.

I don't know what we would do without Shirley though. She kept Alden all day and even went to the Dr. with us so that we could nap yesterday. She is such a blessing. To have her come to the house every day to take care of him is so awesome. SHe is so selfless. It's so nice for him to have her and be able to have that relationship with her.