All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

A couple of days ago Juniper's first 1/2 birthday was celebrated with the emergence of her two front teeth coming in. Today, the poor thing is quite miserable.
I knew that there were going to be aspects of mothering that would be hard. I knew that one of them would be wanting to take away my child's pain and worrying for them. I expected this to be particularly hard for me because I already do those things for others I love. And mothering has been hard in a few ways, but this is a new difficulty. People said teething is a rough period, but I didn't predict this. I just feel so bad for her, she is so far from her usual self. She took her longest nap is such a long time. She's been trying to play, but just moans and cries while trying. I forced cold bananas into her mouth and she realized that that felt good, but she was so tired she couldn't keep her head up. Runny nose and now quite a cough. Actually I am worried that she is sick and it is not her teeth because this is worse than either of the colds she has had.
It also makes her seem older. It is funny how some of the little mild stones make her seem more and more "like a real little girl" as I like to put it. And I am already, saying "No, I don't want my baby to grow up."  Luckily, it is fun to see each new quality she gains. And for me too, I feel subtle changes and differences in myself. A real mom (mum) :). That makes me smile all over. I need to remember that tonight in the middle of the night when she struggling. :)
We tired to take a picture of her newly emerging teeth yesterday, but it didn't work. They are already more predominant today, but I am not even going to think about trying to take one today. Soon enough. I will have to add one to the blog later.
The song (blog title) is fitting though. 

Awesome Oxford Authors

Our trip to Oxford this past weekend was a tour of the city, hunting down historical authors from our childhoods. J.R.R. Tolkien (Hobbit and Lord of the Rings), C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), and Lewis Carroll A.K.A. Charles Dodgson (Alice in Wonderland). All were Oxford graduates and professors. We were exploring how they spent their lives.

First, we went to the pub where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis got together with other writers on a weekly basis. They would talk about their writing over a pint or two. They referred to themselves as the Inklings. This went on for almost 20 years, ending in 1949. In our visit to the Eagle and Child, we discovered it is the place to be if you are American.

We walked around Christ's Church College (below), where Lewis Carroll created Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when telling stories to Alice Liddell and her sisters in the gardens. The stories were also told when rowing down the River Thames near the college. We sat along the river for quite a while to absorb the sun, while watching the competing rowers. Alice's father was the Dean of Christ's Church at the time.

Christ's Church College is also where the dining hall for Harry Potter was filmed and based off.  

 This is the shop  where Alice would go and get sweets back in the 1860s. The shop was in Through the Looking Glass as The Old Sheep Shop.

Below is a picture Magdalen College. It was closed to visitors, but I snuck in to take a peek. Magdelen (pronounced something like Maudlen) was where C.S. Lewis was a member and fellow (so was Oscar Wilde, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Seamus Heaney). Didn't see much cause I was worried about getting caught. Kirby took his turn to sneak into Exeter College where J.R.R.Tolkien went to college. Kirby and I both walked into Merton College where Tolkien (and T.S. Eliot) taught. In order to "sneak in" at these colleges, you have to act as though you know where you are going, have an "air of confidence" like a student would, and walk right on past the Porter's Lodge. The Porter is similar to an information desk.

We had lunch twice at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. It was really neat inside and we loved the french food! Perfect for escaping the cold.

It's nice knowing that we can travel with the baby. We have to be careful and take it slow at times, but that can be nice. Our next big plans are for Amsterdam. I hope I have the energy- when we got home from Oxford I didn't want to anything the next day! It was nice doing some "tourist" stuff because I don't do a lot of that living in, but not "visiting," Cambridge. I think Juniper will be jealous that she got to do a lot of travelling but have no recollection of it. She will probably want to study abroad in 20 years!

It Speaks for Itself

The English dress well by day but this is the English by night. . .

An early Christmas present from Kirby.

What does "family friendly" mean anyway?

Last night, Kirby and I decided we wanted to take advantage of our opportunities at Cambridge. Every Tuesday there is an informational session (and tea of course!) on various topics about England and Cambridge for visiting scholars and newcomers to the university. I have gone a couple times. They also set up tables with brochures on activities around the city. By the way, there is an amazing amount to things going on in this city- it's overwhelming really. The newcomers group also has events such as tours and talks in off-the-beaten-path places here in the city- our kinda thing!
So we got tickets to go to the secretive Master's Lodge (the accommodations for the head of the college) at Emmanuel College for wine and a talk on Antarctica. All these kind of events are supposed to be family friendly unless noted otherwise. I had the baby when I got the tickets, so no surprise about who was coming with me. So we got dressed up and headed out on a windy evening across town. We knew we were testing new waters. When we got there, people were friendly to us and the baby. We got our wine and mingled a bit. The speaker (didn't know at the time) entertained Juniper a few moments. Not bad, although it did seem that most of the people were older than us- maybe visiting scholars (professors) and not so much students. Ya know what, I wonder what they mean by newcomers, this isn't the sort of thing for undergrads. I'm not even sure about the graduate students? It was probably fine but I am suspicious.
When it was time for the talk, the organizer had us sit in the front row, next to the door to the entryway. It was where the stroller was and made a convenient escape. This made sense to me at the time- an "out" if we needed it.  Being the slow to think of things person that I am, it wasn't till later during the talk that I realized how nice it would have been to sit close to the living room which was attached to the room the talk was in. It would have been comfortable in the living room and Juniper would not have been a problem. She is not one to all-of-a-sudden start screaming. So she was entertained for 25 minutes sitting on my lap, looking at the speaker and slides, while chewing on my stylish baby toy necklace (thanks Aimee, it sure has come in handy!). When she started to get fussy a little, I gave her the boob. I had hoped before going that this would happen and then she would fall asleep for the rest of the talk, but she slept on the way over instead. (Hmmm, now I see how I could have planned a little differently- oh the manipulation of baby life!). Off to the entryway Juniper and I went!
That's when I realized I was pretty much trapped in a closet. I couldn't go outside because I would be locked out and I couldn't go back in and interrupt. I was trapped until the presentation was over. Twenty minutes and a diaper change later, we went back in. Everyone later commented on how good Juniper was.
On the walk home, Kirby and I both realized we were a little more stressed than we thought we were. It wasn't a bad time. It was a good in between venue to test out- not too formal, but more than informal. Part of the problem is that I can't seem to tell if it was a case of them acting like it was okay to have Juniper there but it wasn't really okay. Were they really thinking "what were they thinking bringing a baby," or is it really okay? We weren't ignored, but it was still too awkward. I can't tell if it is me worrying and making things up or if it is intuition speaking. I have such a hard time reading English people, well because I don't know the culture enough. I really don't talk to any on a regular basis, all my new friends are not English. Overall, it was too awkward and not worth it. There are plenty of other things to do here. Gotta stick to other events with other families. We just got to get used to busy days with kids and quiet evenings at home. If we want to go to these special formal opportunities together it will have to wait till we are ready for a babysitter (mom why can't you be here too?).  If I go to the session on Tuesday and they are all like "oh that was great you brought the baby, we are trying to get more families to come," I don't know what will I do. Try to keep leading the way? Blindly maybe. The talk on Antarctica was relevant to Juniper's life ahead, she needs to stand up for her generation, right?

Juniper's Gone Bananas



Three weeks ago, we started Juniper on food. A few days of rice cereal and then on to bananas. She has really enjoyed the bananas. She is good eater! We started carrots a few days ago but she is not as keen on them. She has since stopped helping feed herself, like in the pictures below. We will probably do the Brits' favorite vegetable next. Peas. (Although maybe potatos are really their favorite? But who feeds a baby potatos?)
I didn't realize that human food would make breast feeding seem so easy. But I enjoy our time spent feeding her with the spoon. So does her daddy. We feed her in the same yellow bowl. She is trained already. She shows excitement when the yellow bowl is in sight. She still likes momma milk best though!

Runt on a Punt

We finally got around to punting- four days before the season ends and they take the boats out of the water. A punt is a type of boat and a famous past-time in Cambridge. You use a pole to move the punt forward. It's a good way to see the colleges from the river Cam.
Kirby had one lesson before his term started. Off we went with that single experience. It was a windy day but a decent temperature, until Kirby fell in. Just kidding, although I have met people who fell in because the pole got stuck in the mud and they didn't let go. I lost the pole in the mud when I took my turn at it. Don't worry, I didn't fall in either. Luckily, we had a paddle with us. 

The colleges in Cambridge are very old. The university is 800 years old. I don't know all the dates on these buildings but they are older than our country. 

This is the most strenuous thing I have done since having the baby! It really wasn't that bad. Good for my muscles. Kirby was a real gentleman and let me take my turn upstream and against the wind. Some of tour guides had about 15 people on a punt. We overheard the tour guide talking about this strange duck and its weird wings. Maybe an escapee from the Cambridge biology labs? Have you ever seen one like this?

 We rented the punt from Kirby's college. It is one of the only colleges with its own punts. Each college has its own perks. This picture is of Darwin's library. Poor Kirby has to study there.

Juniper seemed to enjoy herself. She usually does when she has mommy's lap and a toy. She enjoyed watching Kirby. She took a nice snack and nap along the way. Part of the fun of punting is to take along wine and snacks. It's very romantic. Maybe next time we will take some wine.

Lovage

Just got back from a craft group at the University. It was a fun group of women who were mostly knitting, I myself am finishing a crocheted blanket that I've been working on for over a year. I was told by one of the older English ladies that I will knit next since I will have people to learn from-sounds like a good plan. There are other new mothers there too.  Fun mix of women from around the world. I love that there are older English ladies there.

One of the best parts about traveling (maybe not the right word for my situation) is sitting around with others talking about cultural differences (guess that is why I enjoyed studying Anthropology). Well gee, half of my blog is about these differences...anyway today I learned about lovage, a herb, very often used in soups. Tastes similar to celery. It is grown here, a couple of the English women said they grew it in their gardens, but you won't find it at the store. My friend Tina said it is widely used in Germany. So when I got home I got good ol' wikipedia out to read up on it.  Which led to learning about the spice ajwain which lead to ghee which lead to anglosphere, oh wiki. 

Back to lovage and ajwain, and all the herbs and spices in the world- so complex. There are different names for the same plants, but then names that are similar for different plants (this was the case in the southern Appalachians for rhododendrons and laurel plants- very confusing). Then the uses of plants in cooking and for medicinal purposes, internationally- wow what a neat world that could be to drive into. I'll be lucky to remember lovage and that it is only second to capers for the amount of quercetin (a flavonoid). If I could see the wizard of oz about a new hippocampus, maybe herbs would be what I'd venture into or maybe even later when mommy life is calmer.

Walking to the Walker

Our big adventure yesterday was to pick up (collect) a walker I saw for sale on gumtree.com, which is used here instead of craig's list. Juniper, Kirby and I walked an hour (2.5 miles) across Cambridge to an area I hadn't been yet. It took a bit longer than planned because we tried to turn a block early to avoid a busy intersection, but you have to be very careful with such moves here as to not end up on a dead end or blocked by a gate. This has happened on a few occasions, particulary when roaming around one of the colleges at the university. Side note: Cambridge University is made of about 33 colleges. You become a part of a college for social life, the pub, housing, sports, formal dinners, and this kind of thing- just like Gryfindor or Hufflepuff in Harry Potter. Kirby is in Darwin College which is all graduate students, about 650 of them. Some colleges are as small as 50 or 200 and have mixed undergrad and grads. Then depending on your program of study you are a part of a department, like US colleges, but these are seperate than the colleges- unlike the US. Kirby is in the Dept. of Land Economy. I explain this because it took me a while to get it, and I explain it now because each college has its own buildings and grounds.  The big ones such as Kings College, have guards (men in robes) at the gates only letting particular people through. Sometimes University students can get where visitors can't and other times only college members are allowed in. Anyway we have gotten lost and trapped in them and asked to leave.
Getting back on track, we took a long walk to get this walker. We had almost rented a flat even further from the city center than we went that day. Good thing we didn't because it is really far away! Then it started to heavily rain as we reached the person's house and Juniper was waking from her nap, so we needed to take a break. Where else to go? Pizza Hut. Kirby hadn't had pizza since he left, so we had a nice, expensive pizza. We had it while we were in India once too (Pizza Hut is a fancy restaurant in India). Actually that may have been the last time I had been to one- six years ago. British Pizza Hut has only two sizes- individual and share. "Share" is like a medium. They serve beer at Pizza Hut here and we wondered whether they do that in the states.
It was time to head 2.5 miles back home. I've got to get used to walking in the rain anyways. The walker was well worth it and most of the walk was through various parks. Juniper was immediately excited to play with it. And the next night, she figured out how to cross the room to get to her mama!

Runny Nose

Nothing different about having a cold in England :( Harder having a little one that wants to eat (or just suckle, not sure which) all night long so as mummy gets no sleep on top of a cold. At least her beautiful smile can make me forget.

Washer Dryer

Do people in the US have machines that both wash and dry? Or what about renting washing machines? I am not quite sure the answer to either. My guess would be yes and yes, but not frequently.
Well we got a washer dryer installed in the kitchen today, one machine that does both. In the kitchen is where people that live in flats have their washers, which is many of the folks here. It ain't cheap to rent, but it beats lugging dirty diapers (nappies) in the stroller to the college to do it. Cheaper than buying diapers also, barely- in the US it might not be, but diapers cost more here at least where I looked. 
You have to take out half the clothes to do the drying. It doesn't have a vent like a normal tumble dryer as they call them here. The washing and drying cycles take a lot longer, which makes me curious how much we are using in electricity. We will find out in the next bill, but I won't have a bill without it to compare to, maybe that is good.
It sounds a bit like a jet and shakes the whole kitchen. I bet the people down stairs are cursing us now!
Kirby is right, this a bit of a boring second post, BUT I am excited to have this washer especially since we started feeding Juniper today AND she started blowing bubbles- two things that are already creating lots of laundry. Mummies gotta have the right equipment to do their job and I must do it Cambridge style.

Arriving In Cambridge

Overall,  travelling alone with Juniper wasn't bad. The flight was empty and the airplane noise muffled any little cries she had. At 4 1/2 months she is happy just being in mama's lap, awake or asleep, which is actually starting to be a bit of an issue. From what I hear from other mothers, I should enjoy it while I can. That is part of the specialness of this year in Cambridge for me: to give my full attention (as much as a person can) to Juniper.
At the end of the 7 hour flight I got a few comments on how they never heard a peep from her. I managed to use the airplane toilet with her in my lap a couple times. Yeah, I could have asked a flight attendant for help, but we were already in there to change her (one toilet had a changing table in it luckily). She did a big poopers right after takeoff so we had to wait 45 minutes to reach 30,000 ft and the silly seatbelt light to be turned off.
I didn't really manage to get any sleep from 3am that morning until 3am the next morning. (Thanks for joining me at 3am and bringing me to the airport Dad!) Still didn't get much the night we arrived either. After we met up with Juni's daddy at the airport (so happy to see his little girl after three weeks), we had fun carrying a baby, a stroller (pram/buggy), and three large pieces of luggage (only one with wheels) up an escalator and onto the Tube. We traveled an hour on the Underground to Kings Station.We then ran to catch the last train to Cambridge with 2 minutes to spare, and only because a customs agent at Heathrow let all the people with children skip the hour+ line(queue). On the train a really nice lady gave us her seat, and then later she handed me a note of all kinds of info to help me get around Cambridge with a baby (she was a mother of two young ones). Then another couple hours on the train and taxi to our guest room at Darwin College at Cambridge University.  This is when our good little pumpkin realized she was overtired and in a foreign place and decided to cry and scream inconsolably. It would have not been so bad, except we weren't suppose to have a baby in the guest rooms!  She finally fell asleep. I slept in some strange position as to not disturb her. All-in-all, not too bad. I didn't feel stressed until maybe a little that last moment, but what is a mother to do? Welcome to Cambridge mum!