Living in America... visitors welcome

[SuperBunny]

East Coast
MaNanny - Boston
Twinmommytobe - Boston
MuminCT - CT
Greatgooglymoogly - NY State
Yesthereare4ofthem - NY State
Brooklynmom - NYC
alarkaspree - NYC
MKG - New Jersey
Mummimamma - PA
Poetmum - PA
Twirl - MD

South
Earlybird - TN
jabberwocky - AR
Sunchowder - Florida
Marls001 - Bentonville, AR
Tinpot - NC
MadameDeathStare- AL

Midwest
SuperBunny- Chicago
Dodgykeeper - Dayton, OH
Chocchipcookie - Ohio
MonkeyLover
KickAssAngel - Ann Arbor, MI
MumofFivemeanschaos

Rockies
Alipiggie - Boulder, CO
Ribena

Northwest
AnnieLaurie - Seattle, WA
Dooneygirl - Oregon City, OR

California
SittingBull - nr San Francisco
Califrau - Milpitas
loopsngeorge - Brentwood, LA
Syd - Manhattan Beach, LA
SofiaAmes - LA
LATyke - Redondo Beach
CarmenSanDiego - San Diego

Texas
Texan - Dallas
Tiggyhop - Houston
Vixie78 - Houston
BananaPudding - Austin
Cosmicdust - East Texas

Canada
Hellish - Ottawa
Shouldlistenedtomymum - Hamilton
Nooka - BC
Jacksmama - Langley

Exotic Islands
Anorak - Bermuda
cp - Trinidad
Barefeete - BVI

Brazil
Albert

I am a milk machine. I am sleepless in Seattle. I am a milk machine. I am sleepless in Seattle. I am a milk machine. I am Sleepless in Seattle...(repeat to fade)

Annie! Hello! Well done. Hope you are ok. How's the little one?

Oh, I don't envy you those days, AL. (Shudders)

glad to see that you've retained your sense of humour/become a robot (delete as necessary)

life WILL become normal again, then you will just stay up late for no good reason, and still feel exhausted

Actually, have to admit things are pretty good - we are VERY lucky to have a pretty laid back, placid baby. DS1 is being very sweet with his little brother and DS2 is sleeping not too bad - was waking 2-3 times in the night, now usually 2, and settles pretty quickly again.

You get used to stretches of 2/3 hr sleep max MUCH quicker with the second one.

I have logged on a couple of times over the last few weeks but the whip-cracking weird posting nature of this thread means it takes a huge effort to think of something to write..

I am a milk machine, I am sleepless in Seattle...etc

Off to watch Cold Feet series one until the milk bar is called upon.

Bye!

Glad things are going well for you Annie! (also very glad my milk machine days are well and truly over ). Here it is still bloody freezing! The snow is gradually melting and we may in into double figures later this week, but where is Spring!

Re the stabilizers we were told they were a bad idea and made it harder for children to learn to cycle. In New York the parks department used to run learn to cycle days where you went along with your bike, they took the pedals off, and then you learnt to balance and coast, they then put the pedals back on and you were away.

My two were very unsure of themselves in their stabiliser days, then we had a couple of years when things were so topsy turvey that they didn't have a bike at all, then we bought them new ones for Christmas and within a day they were confident. Now (two weeks later) they are disappearing off with friends for hours. They are eight and nine, so about time too really I guess!

i'm glad to hear that about bikes. dd is so cutious these days, she refused to go on without the stabilisers, and didn't want me to try & fit them. then she saw it 'ready to go' and immediately wanted a go. however, there's a piece missing on one side, so althoughi put the whell on there (so i didn't lose that as well), it will move if any pressure put on it. still, if she's willing to have a go, may just let her & hope.
I am also finding it very hard to let go!!(physically & emotionally) asshe isn't always that aware of herself & will easily crash into people, hurtle off a cliff, without noticing!

Yes I'm just here for a post-op checkup. AL the milk bar sounds like hard work. I never liked all of that and was very glad when it came to an end.

Hope you are ok, Anorak.

Um, I may have news. Can't say too much on here (hence crappy namechange - it should be obvious who I am, I think but not searchable) but wanted to mention it to you before I start a thread about something related. Will explain more if/ when things change. It is quite possible it will come to nothing.

Off out to work in garden this afternoon, I think, Hooray for sunshine.

So, SB, I want you to be proud of me. We got Wii Fit, and I've been exercising for the past few days, even doing the running ones. AND we've been doing vegetarian a lot. Tonight was our 3rd veggie meal this week. It was really good. I don't know why, but I feel that I need your approval.

Well done Dooney! I have failed at exercise for weeks

Did you cook anything good? I am stuck in a rut and cannot face yet more chili. My friend made a lovely lentil salad today. It doesn't sound good but it was surprisingly delicious.

Colin and I cooked and baked today. We went crazy. We had a super easy tomato, pesto, carmelized onion and chevre on puff pastry tart. We really loved it. We had carrot cake in which I subbed all the oil with applesauce and took out a full cup of sugar, and used low-fat cream cheese in the frosting, and it turned out much better than I thought.

All sounds delicious, Dooney.

Tart recipe here I don't really like tomatoes all that much, so I added the carmelized onions to make it so I liked it.

OH my goodness, AL manages to post 2 days in a row!!

Quick question for everyone...I have heard that if something happened to us (run over by bus or something) that there might be problems for relatives in the UK removing our DS that has just been born here from the country, and that our British will would not count.

Does anyone know about this? Anyone got any advice? Or shall i just go back to thinking about milking and sleeping...

AL, I really don't know, but i thought if yuo had a uk will, it would apply here, unless you'd made another one, but that laws about death, taxes, etc are different here. i know if you don't have any will, thenUS law applies, not uk.

if your child is born here, can have us, joint or uk citizenship, they can elect when older.

there are some rules about separated parents not being allowed to remove children without both parents agreeing, don't know how that is affected if both parents die.

gosh, making a will really does need to move up my priority list! it's depressing enough talking about the kind of life assurance we need (spent ages on weds, discussuing, well, if he's in an accident, and injured, but not dead.. scenarios)

hope someone else can give you more info

Tart looks delicious. I love puff pastry but it seems to love my hips a bit too much.

AL, my understanding is that you need a will over here too and that you need to get it done by an attorney rather than doing a quick online one. I think if you have dual citizen children (make sure you do get DS a British passport) and/ or assets overseas it complicates things and you need to make sure it is all done proplery. Says she with a dual citizen child, a house in the UK and no will anywhere

The rule re 1 parent taking a child out of the US is to prevent kidnapping so it would be different if both parents died. It doesn't matter if you are married or not, you should still have paperwork to say you have permission to remove the child.

I'm off to Target. Does anyone buy grown up clothes there? I never have but I have a gift card that I need to use and have nothing to wear. Are they ok?

I too am a milk machine AL and find myself saying things I never used to say like - of course I'm fine because I slept from 11 till 3am that's plenty.

Am slightly pannicked by your question about removing child from the country should something awful happen. Have you got him a passport yet? We are due to travel back to UK in May and must get baby a passport soon. Surely if there are no relatives in US its not an issue? Would getting a UK passport be the answer I wonder?

I am really struggling to get the hang of fresh food despite having been here since Nov. Where do people get meat and fish and stuff from that's not scarily full of chemicals? Apparently there are summer farmer's markets here I guess that will help. Is there such a thing as mail order for organic meat / fish / produce? Am I worrying about nothing? I guess millions of people eat the stuff so it shouldn't be dangerous.

Dunno Bunkups - that's one of the reasons I am veggie - I have been unable to find decent meat and fish and I am skeptical of expensive meat at places like Whole Foods - I am not convinced it is any better.

Hello again. A week to go before I join you all! Excitement is mounting here, but ds2 has his leaving party tomorrow with all his friends which will be .

Can anyone tell me what the "class parent" means - I've had an email from mine and she sounds lovely, but I'm not quite sure what her role is.

Thanks!

Hello everyone!

I am moving to Seattle all being well in July with dses 2 and 5, and dh of course. So excited - I have never been out of Europe before. Look forward to getting to know you all...have a feeling you are going to be a lifeline!

Hi Kiera,

Hope your move goes well. I'm moving to New York to start a new job next week with DS2, who is 7. DH is working in Washington DC and DS1 is at boarding school in the UK.

Will you have chance to do a recce trip before July? I found it really helped to take DS's to see the new school, apartment etc ahead of the move, though it might not be so relevant to a 2 year old .

Bunkup - didnt mean to panic you! Think it is to do with if you have assets in the US?? I dont know, will report back if find out any more.

Think we are going to do a US will as well, just in case.

We had DS2 passport done yesterday. Was v funny. DH and I had to raise our right hands in the post office to swear something or other, and I had to fight the urge to giggle!!

Regarding meat etc, I tend to buy meat from wholefoods or trader joes, and there is a fantastic british sausage and bacon mail order website, will try and dig it out for you..

The food really is AWFUL here isnt it - berries/fruit goes off quicker, yuk.

hi tangerine & kiera.

i am on mn WAY more than i used to be (partly cos i'm a ft mom now) but also cos i NEED this thread to ask things like 'where do you buy...'

SB - did you get anything at target?

i have just had a very trying afternoon with dd. she's tired at the end of the week & so in her own world. she kept just wandering off/not hearing/not moving etc. i know she can't helo it, but ARGHH! How many times do you say , 'undo your seat belt please' before you go 'do it NOW' (about 3 for me).
and then turn round to see your new neighbour, the furniture lady etc just a few feet away.

have just eaten chocolate to calm me down.