Strengthening Anglo-American relations one word at a time

I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.  I’m getting stick from my friends in the UK for saying diapers, yet if I say nappies most American’s look at me as if I’m from Mars.

Any true writer would say you should write to please the majority of your audience. Well, in the absence of any ‘scientific research’ I have no idea whether more Brits or more American’s read my blog but on the basis that I currently live in Seattle, I’ll go with diapers. When in Rome and all that!

That said, in the interest of bridging the gap between the Brits and the American’s here’s a little translation of words/phrases that I regularly use that have raised an eyebrow at best, totally blank expressions at worst,  amongst my American friends and colleagues:

Fortnight = every 2 weeks

Knickers in a twist = panties in a bunch

Handbag = purse

Nappies = diapers

Rubbish / bin = garbage

Faff = to dither about but achieve very little

Fairy Cake = cupcake

Jacket potato = baked potato

Grill = Broiler

Potter = See faff

Estate Agent – realtor

Minging = distgusting

Pikey = trailer trash

Bespoke = custom made

 

I’m sure there’s plenty more but here’s a starter for ten. That in itself will need some translation for many of you but I’ll let you work it out for yourselves.

Is it a plane, is it a potato, no – it’s a mouse

In an effort to broaden Jemima’s rather simplistic palate and encourage her to try a wider range of foods, I’ve started to ask her to pick a dish once a week from her cookbook that we can cook together.

I’ve been trying to get her to eat baked potatoes for a year now, but she just refuses. Turn it into a mouse however and hey presto, she loved it.

Here’s what our potato mouse looked like. Really simple but note to self – put under the broiler BEFORE you add the whiskers!  Chives don’t like extreme heat.

 

Running with the Girls

By the girls I mean ‘the girls’ so if you’re easily embarrassed or related to me you may want to look away.

On Sunday I ventured out for my first run since before I was pregnant with Billy, and considering I got pregnant over Christmas last year and physical exercise was never top of my agenda, we’re talking the best part of a year.  I was slightly nervous to say the least.

However, my nerves were more due to how the boobs would hold up (they are really quite large thanks to this breastfeeding lark!) rather than how I would manage it physically. I’m now two sizes bigger ‘up top’ than I was before I was pregnant so squeezing into my running gear and sports bra was a challenge. 

In order to keep the not-so-little ladies in place I bought in the heavy artillery and found myself walking out the door with 3 bras on – a regular nursing, sports, and a running top with a built in bra. Ben’s parting words were ‘hope you don’t come back with two black eyes’. Yes, I could hardly breath but the little puppies didn’t budge and I had a good run. OK, so I walked a little bit but all things considered I returned home pretty proud of myself and, against all odds was not stiff the next day. So ‘girls’ see you next weekend!

Girls Day Out

Understandably, since Billy was born we’ve seen a few cracks appear in Jemima’s behavior and we were beginning to feel that we were spending all our time with her telling her off.

The reality is far different from that, but when sleep is in short supply, patience is thin and a newborn in crying, trying to keep calm with a nearly four year old can be challenging. But the truth is that Jemima obviously gets far less of our attention than she’s used to. Therefore, Saturday afternoon was a girls day out when we left the ‘stinky boys’ at home (her words not mine). Our plan for the day was a trip to the Salmon Hatchery in Issaquah to see the salmon swimming up stream and then out for ice cream. I even managed to sell her the idea of a trip to Trader Joe’s by telling her I needed her help to buy bananas! Perhaps even more miraculous was that when asked what her favorite part of the day was, it wasn’t the ice cream but feeding the trout.  We had a great time and here are some photos.

 

No Milk for Billy

After over a week of enduring severe diaper rash with no improvement despite the treatment for a yeast infection, Billy and I were back to the doctors this morning.  She still suspects it is a yeast infection but it’s not clearing as he’s pooping so much.  So we’re to continue with the treatment and put Billy on a hypoallergenic formula (at vast expense may I add) to rule out a sensitivity to milk protein. 

I’m to continue pumping and freezing the milk in the hope that in a few weeks once all is cleared up and his system has adjusted we can introduce one or two feeds of breast milk a day which hopefully in that small quantity won’t irritate his stomach.

Fingers crossed it works. The poor little guy is in so much pain every time we have to change his diaper that it breaks my heart. He cries so much and with such force that by the end of every diaper change he’s hoarse.

The good news is that the pumping / freezing will give me a bit of a break as there’s little point in me pumping at every feed. She suggested I pump four times a day which is much more manageable. Already I’m feeling more relaxed which I’m hoping will in turn make Billy more relaxed. That said I’m unsure if it’s possible for someone who sleeps about 21 hours a day to get much more relaxed!

In short, feeling relieved all round and sincerely hoping that my trips to the pediatrician / lactation consultants will now taper off. Between Billy and Jemima in the past 3 weeks I think we’ve been to the pediatrician’s 8 times, the women’s clinic 5 times, plus one MRI scan. Is it any wonder that I feeling is if I’m achieving anything else during the day? And no wonder I’m exhausted!

Wow – she’s a better Mum than me

So, I think I said a while back that now that Billy is born the blog may be a day or two behind real life. How wrong I was – I think I’m a good 10 days behind. I’d truly forgotten how long it takes to get anything done in the house when there’s a newborn around.

That said, Billy is a totally different baby compared to Jemima. She was such a text book baby that by 2 weeks we had her on a pretty good feeding & sleeping routine. Not so with Billy.  To a degree we feel like this is the first child for both of us at at times Jemima seems far more tuned into to his needs, wants and demands than I am.

And here’s the proof – a video of her helping to give him Billy a sponge bath. She was so gentle. Admittedly you can’t see much of Jemima – I couldn’t get her face in the frame and still be close enough to help out / avoid any disasters.

As far as Billy goes himself, he’s a little gem. He still sleeps for about 21 hours a day so in theory I should be feeling far more in control of the situation than I am. That said, between feeding and pumping every 3 hours, there’s not a lot of time for anything else. 

We’re also facing very severe diaper rash at the moment which is currently being treated as a yeast infection (a result of me being on antibiotics), although despite using the cream for nearly 3 days we’re seeing little improvement.  I can’t help thinking he’s got diarrhea but the lactation consultants don’t seem to think so.  The doctor finally mentioned the possibility of a milk protein allergy but she wants to rule out the yeast infection first.  So there’s a possibility that we’ll be switching to incredibly expensive formula soon. We’ll see what tomorrow’s follow-up appointment brings.

Moving in the right direction

After 5 days of Billy eating like a demon ( not to mention pooping even more), but failing to put on weight we seemed to have turned a corner and a weighing yesterday put him at 6lb 2.3oz so I’m now beginning to relax a little.

As for Billy’s bilis they haven’t been checked for a few days but all nurses / doctors / lactation consultants seem very unworried about it. So less for me to worry about to.

Since Billy was born I’ve been asked numerous times if the blog will go on.  I had originally thought that no it won’t, that my last entry would be one about Billy’s birth, but I’ve already past that milestone. So in short, yes – the blog will go on. 

Please bear with me however as chances are some of the posts will be a day or so behind real time – trying to keep it up to date with what’s happening in our family simultaneously is just not possible with a new born who needs feeding every 2.5 hours, following by a pump session. I only just about wash the bottles and have to start over again.

I’ll also change the title (let’s face now I’m no longer on bedrest it’s hardly appropriate) and probably alter the subject matter slightly.  After all, the tales about my daily family life, now with hopefully the drama removed, or at least toned down, I doubt will anywhere near as interesting as it has been. But don’t worry tales about Billy and his big sister will continue to feature.

Today, I’m already feeling a sense of satisfaction. It’s 9:15am on a Saturday morning, we’re all up, I’m dressed – make up included. Billy’s already had one feed, breakfast has been served and one wash is already nearly completion.  Next stop is bath time for Billy, which Jemima is going to help with, then a walk to the park and Starbucks before some friends pop in for a visit. I can’t tell you how excited I am about going for a walk for the first time in four months.