My baby is already 1!

Actually, he's 14 months and one day, but who's counting? Well I am! I can't believe how fast this past year has gone and clearly I didn't make much time for blogging about such an monumental time in our lives. But luckily I've been recording milestones and photos through emails, Facebook posts and good old fashioned handwritten journal and baby book, whew!

Anders is a happy, smart, curious, sweet and engaging little boy. He's our little cheeky monkey and I have to say the cutest baby ever! He's been walking just since around my birthday (mid March) so around the 13 month mark.

There were a few little celebrations for his big milestone. It started with nursery where they gave him a birthday cake a tea time for him to dig into. Then on Saturday, which was his actual day, we had friends Will, Vanessa, Karis and Charlotte over for nibbles and cake. I made him a little chocolate sponge cake with whipped cream frosting and straberries/blueberries on top. He loved it! A few weeks following, we got together with our NCT group - mummies, daddies and babies - for a big milestone celebration for all of us really. We exchanged birthday fairy gifts and Anders received his first wooden train set - so cute!

We love our little man - he's already moved on from babyhood and entering toddlerhood - watch out!

Olympic Fun!

Oh my, six months has passed without a post! Well this one is important, as we attended the 2012 Olympics this year! We thought, as well as the British public, that the Olympics were absolutely terrific and London did a fantastic job putting it on for 2012. We were very fortunate to get tickets to some of the events - track and field, diving, beach volleyball and women's soccer (thanks to Meghan!). We had good Gustie friend's Steffan and Meghan also come to visit us during this time and join us for the events - it made it even more fun to share in the excitement with good pals. Overall, the two weeks were some of the best we've had living in the UK!

In review - Brian and Steffan saw beach volleyball being played at Horse Guards Parade in central London (across from Buckingham Palace). On another day, the guys went to Wembley stadium to watch women's soccer - Japan vs France in a semifinal. The four of us, plus Anders, went to a Track and Field morning session. We were up early from Oxford and took a bus directly to the Olympic Park. We could take his stroller all the way up to the Olympic Stadium where they had a stroller park. The Olympics were very family/baby friendly, which was terrific for us and many others. Anders did pretty well in the stadium, after a bit of food and a snooze. We all then walked around the Park to check out the other venues, the Olympic shop, the jumbo outdoor screen TVs, and the NBC studio! (We had just missed that day's Today Show recording.) Brian then took the baby home to Oxford, while I was able to go to women's 10m platform diving prelims in the aquatic center with Meghan. Diving was my favorite sport of these games - the men were amazing! I took a late bus home and arrived to my two sound asleep boys.

Check out our little video from inside the stadium: http://youtu.be/vofat5KGGpg

We hope you enjoyed London 2012 too!

Welcome Anders John Smith!

There is a new addition to our little family - Anders John Smith was born Thursday 2 February, 5:03pm at 8 lbs 3 3/4oz. We are smitten with our new little guy and have been taking these past two months to get to know him. He's a big growing boy and a pretty content baby I would say generally. Grandma Marcy came for two weeks, during his 2-4 weeks of life and I sure appreciated her third pair of hands and just her company. It was ideal that when she arrived, it was when Brian had to go back to work, so I didn't feel abandoned too soon!

We are now working out, I wouldn't say a routine, but a flow. Anders has already a bit of an internal clock, so he likes to eat about every 2.5 hours and typically falls within similar time periods within the day. Some days he sleeps a lot while others he a bit more fussy - and especially at the witching hour. But he loves going to walks in our fancy (aka expensive) pram - and especially we enjoy it too while the British spring weather is really great right now.

We've accomplished many bus trips into town, visits to friends, having friends visit, coffee shops, the pub, and some Dr appointments. We also meet at a baby group each Tues (although he's still too little really) and with the NCT mums and babies on Thursdays. Sometimes we also go to the Big Scream movie on Wednesday, which I really enjoy.

Brian is still working out his work/home balance - I can tell that he really wants to be home more now to see Anders! Which I love, but I know he needs his time to work too. So hopefully that will even out over time.

As much as we educated ourselves and prepared, you still can't be 100% prepared for what it's like to have a baby! So it's been a steep learning curve. I felt like we hit a milestone at the 1-month mark- we were all surviving! Now I feel slightly back into normalcy, but it's definitely a new normal. We will definitely have challenges as it's just the two of us living here, taking care of Anders - versus having family or easier child care around. But so many others are doing it here too, and Oxford is really family friendly. I'm taking advantage of my 12 month maternity leave and so thankful I can have up to that much! In the US, I might already have to be back to full-time work.

Well here we enter our new phase of life after 10-years of child-free marriage bliss! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Oxford!

We are very much enjoying our final weeks of just a twosome and sleeping in a lot! Since we haven't made any big plans of travel or exploring, we are cleaning, rearranging furniture and doing lots of laundry. It sure is nice to be lazy and not feel guilty about it!


December has been a fun month, with a final European jaunt to visit Bettina and Stefan in their new flat and life in Bonn, Germany. We visited an indoor and the outdoor Christmas markets, some shopping and just relaxed and ate well at their spacious place. It was so nice to see them before our lives change with baby on the way! And while it was still easy to travel!

We also had the annual physics Christmas party, this year at St Anthony's College. Not the prettiest of colleges, but I would say the food was good and the Senior Common Room for the presentations was warm and comfy. Obviously baby is making himself known by now!

On Christmas day, we were kindly invited over to Ian and Kate Walmsley's again for dinner - same place we went to in 2007. It was fun to see the work they've done to the house and how much their kids have grown in five years. Really puts into perspective how long we've lived here already!

We plan to spend New Year's Eve at our friend's Adam and Maggie's - little Izzy is already 2 and she has a brother/sister on the way due in April.  Lots of babies this year!

Best wishes for 2012!!

British Weddings 2 & 3

Argh, I'm blowing my post at least once a month! Well I'll catch up a bit on two weddings in one post. They were both in the lovely English countryside - the famous Cotswolds.

My good friend and former colleague from the Business School and her now hubby Giles, both met working together at the Business School. It was fun at the wedding, because I knew so many of the guests - Business School colleagues and Charlotte's Hen Do - close girlfriends.

There wedding in early September was in a lovely market town called Tetbury, and from the looks of it, one of the posh Cotswold towns. Prince Charles has one of his stately homes and garden just on the outskirts, so the town fits the royal image well. We stayed two nights in a lovely B&B right in the centre of town. Enjoy pizza out Friday night on our own, and then saw Charlotte for a drink later on. It was easy to get to the lovely Barn venue where the ceremony was being held, as there was a coach to collect us all, and the drive us back in the evening.

The weather was sunny and warmish, although a bit breezy. We started with a short drinks reception, then the ceremony in the posh Barn, and a further drinks reception for awhile, while the Barn was then redone up with tables for dinner. Brian and I sat with her Hen Do friends and their partners. After a lovely meal of chicken, one more clear out so they could set up the dance floor. A really unique and beautiful wedding in the Cotswolds!

Wedding number 3 was also of a former colleague from the University Alumni Office - Jo and her now hubby Toby. They also met at work, and have a cute story about him sending her anonymous flowers on Valentine's Day.

There wedding in the Cotswolds was during the warmest weekend on record in England, and especially unique because it was the first weekend of October - it was 85 degrees and full sun. Even the locals weren't complaining on the 'hot' weather since we have had such a cool grey summer. Their wedding was also out on a farm - but a bit more rustic and relaxed. It was a weekend, hangout, pitch in, relax type of affair.

 The wedding ceremony was in the apple orchard and there were dogs, and kiddos, and everyone just chilling. There were then fun and games, a tennis court, indoor swimming pool, a bouncy castle, game room, chickens, cows, etc. We were there with a number of my former colleagues and their partners - who all especially enjoyed the bouncy castle! Dinner was in the barn and we had a pork roast (a little tricky for Brian, but there were some alternatives). Beer was brewed by the local brewery and some English sweets to pick at as well. It was a really lovely day as well. We were able to just train/taxi to and from home, so we didn't have to spend the night anywhere this time (and save a little dough)!

We felt so blessed that we've made good friends here (British friends!) so that we could help them celebrate their weddings. It was very fun for us to experience and especially as they were all so uniquely different. Overall, I'd say that weddings in the UK are more or less the same as in the US, with just some small differences.

My first Hen Do (aka Bachlorette Party)!

A few weekends ago, I was invited to my former colleague and friend Charlotte's Hen Do. Hen = Bachelorette and Do = Party. It was a lovely full weekend away in the English countryside, just outside of the beautiful town of Bath. Charlotte is getting married in early September to another one of my current colleagues Giles. I was the only colleague from work invited to the Do, and the other gals there were friends of hers from home or University. This is the view from the back garden of where we were staying in a lovely village called Chew Magna for the weekend.

We spent the weekend at a large farm house, which has been modernised a bit for groups of hen parties to hire out for weekends in the summer. The owners live in the home attached, and provide things such as the linens, breakfast food, etc. The owners also realised that many of the hen groups were heading into Bath for a spa day, so they decided to build a spa on sight. So now across the street is an outdoor pool, hot tub, sauna, and treatment room.

We all arrived on Friday afternoon and settled into the house. It was a beautiful warm day, so we were able to sit out in the back garden, eat canapes and wine and get to know one another with some fun games. We stayed at the house for dinner, and Charlotte cooked as a thank you to all of us for coming.  We then did some more fun evening Hen games - like 'Pin the Trunks on the the Hunk' who was  George Michael during Wham days - so British! We also got Charlotte up karaoking and pretending to be dancing to Riverdance. Finally, we designed Charlotte and her friend's 'wedding dress' with toilet paper and plastic, in which they looked beautiful of course in the outcome!

Saturday we were up to have breakfast at 9, so we could be across the street by 10 for the spa time. The weather was probably 60 degrees and mainly cloudy. But that didn't stop the British girls for going for a swim! I didn't know if I thought they were crazy or impressive. . . Everyone took turns with 30 min spa treatments such as facials, back massage or pedicure. We then enjoyed a picnic lunch again in the garden as the sun began to peek out. After lunch, everyone was tired and wanted to rest a bit before our night on the town. So naps all around.

We gathered together at 5pm for a few more games, before we started to get ready for our night out. A minibus was collecting us at 7pm and driving us into Bath. We first went to the roof top bar of a pretty cool new gastropub in downtown. It was definitely chilly, but was a fun start. Then headed to our dinner location, which was a Spanish tapas place and really yummy. It was a cozy intimate setting, so a bit loud, but it worked out well. Last we went around the corner to a perfect downstairs bar lounge, and had a few night caps. All in all, we were very civilised group - as the girls kept saying. We were in fun dresses and outfits, with a splash of green, and our bits of '80's accents to show that we were a hen do all together. Much better outfits than other hen dos in Bath, which were just pretty embarrassing!

Sunday brought a final nice cooked breakfast at the house, cleaning up and then everyone parting ways around 1pm. It was lovely to meet some new ladies and Charlotte's friends were extremely nice. It was fun to hear about their reminiscing days, just like I would do with my friends, but in a different culture. Fun to hear about many topics that were similar and many that were different (music, tv shows, hair/clothes styles, relationships, etc.).

And then I took a nice big nap when I arrived home that afternoon!

First British Wedding

Last weekend, we attended our first of three British weddings this summer. It was our first ever British wedding, and probably the most traditional/formal of the three. It was very similar to a traditional church wedding in the US, with of course, many of the smaller differences.

The groom is a former colleague of Brian's from here at Oxford. His now wife was also a student at Oxford in medicine, which is where they met a number of years ago. They are a super fun couple, and we were so glad to be invited to their big day.

The wedding was in Salisbury, which is around 40 miles southeast of Oxford. Since we still don't have a car (but we both now can legally drive in the UK!) we took the train. Salisbury is where the famed Salisbury Cathedral is located- and is very close to Stonehenge. It's an absolutely lovely British town, well kept, amazing mix of historical British architecture, and cozy traditional pubs.

We arrived Friday evening, checked into our lovely and quaint B&B (the nicest we've stayed in so far, had a lovely big bay window overlooking the entire street). We ventured down the street to an old pub with low timber ceilings and a huge garden in the back. It was the place to be,  and we had dinner there in the evening.

After lovely breakfast, we checked out a bit of the town centre and the Saturday market. It was nice, but those markets are now just getting taken over by those cheap clothes stalls. It's a real shame. We grabbed a quick bite, then back to the B&B to get ready for the wedding. We had to be at St Thomas church before 2. The church is older than the cathedral, as it's the one that was built for the workers building the Cathedral. I believe it's the church where the bride grew up in, since her family is from Salisbury.  The ceremony was very similar to a US-church style wedding. The only difference that stood out was that they signed the registered during the ceremony, rather than after.

The reception was in the gardens of the Salisbury children's School, overlooking the Cathedral. It was a beautiful day, and beautiful garden to celebrate within. We had a drinks and nibbles reception outside, and then moved in to this grand marquee on the grounds for dinner. Dinner was a carvery buffet, and it was delicious. We sat at the FROG table, some physics acronym, with former colleagues of Brian and partners, which was fun.

The wedding speeches were the best I've ever heard. The father of the bride, the groom and then the best man. Very clever, witty, honest, funny loving and entertaining. There was a wedding quiz, which our table didn't do so well on, and then the evening activity was a ceili dance. Which is Scottish named in origin, but was more like American square dancing, which was pretty fun. Funny too, as the caller lady was clearly American, from Cali and loves to square dance!

As the evening wound down, my favourite part of the night was out on the expansive lawn looking up at the glowing Cathedral and seeing the huge night sky of stars. I don't get many chances to be in a wide open space at night here, when the stars are even out, to enjoy the British night time sky. It was a pretty spectacular and surreal sight!