Bad Blogger

I know I've been a very bad blogger, but it is only partially my fault. We didn't have internet for about a month while we moved from our temporary apartment to our house.

During my absence from the blogosphere we moved, Baby Bear got invited to his first birthday party and he turned one.

Mass amounts of photos to follow shortly.

Happy Sunday

Good morning everyone, we are now exponentially more contact-able. We have our new phone with Skype/Blogger/Flickr/Magic Jack all set up for video calls and phone service to both the US and UK. Get ahold of us through here/email/facebook and we will get all of our new numbers and handles out to you.

30

Today I turned 30. I will say it hasn't been nearly as panic-inducing as I used to think it would be. If even 5 years ago I was told that today I would 1) be married 2) have a baby 3) be a stay-at-home mom and 4) be living in England, I wouldn't have believed any of it.

I feel that now that I'm 30, I should have something profound to say about it. Looking back, I'd say my 20s were all about figuring out what was going on in my head and learning to be ok with it. What I discovered is this: I am an introvert. I live in my head way too much and am way too comfortable there. I'm not shy. I'm not overly insecure. I can be social when needed or when I make a conscious effort, but it is not something that comes naturally. This explains it pretty well actually: http://sveidt.deviantart.com/art/How-to-Live-with-Introverts-Guide-Printable-320818879.

For the moment, my life is pretty together. I have an amazing husband that is perfect for me. He loves me and accepts me for exactly who I am- the good, the bad, the crazy and the ugly- and that is a really great feeling. I have a beautiful son that makes me smile til my face hurts. I have family and a handful of great friends that I love dearly. I'm at the beginning of this great adventure with my own little family that is going to allow us to spend the next 3 years exploring Europe and growing closer than ever as we learn to rely on each other.

It is because of all these things that I feel empowered today.

I know that I think and dream much bolder than I act. I don't take many risks or venture outside of my comfort zone very often. Turning 30 has me looking at what I want to make of the next 10 years. And I've decided that I want to be audacious. I'm not quite sure how to be an audacious introvert, but I'm excited to figure it out.

Peek-a-boo

Hello, Daddy Bear here. I saw an update request from some fish and decided my bit of insomnia would be spent here tonight. It has been a whirlwind two weeks here and waking up in the middle of the night seems to be my only chance to breath lately. I apologize for that repeat sentence structure there but I am going to move right along before my thoughts desert me.

 

Mama Bear has been an absolute trooper so far. I have been kept pretty busy working through all of the requisite paperwork and in processing leaving her on her own, in a new country, in temporary accommodations, for large chunks of days. Mama Bear, you have performed perfectly. You are a wonderful and dedicated mother whom I am proud to be sharing my life with. I could not ask for a better companion to be raising Baby Bear and having this adventure with. Happy Birthday. I love you.

 

As I was sitting in this same chair arranging bill payments Saturday night Baby Bear looked up from his wooden toy train and decided I looked far to serious and something had to be done about it. He picked his way across the floor past his rattly ball and wind-back fire truck. He pulled himself up my leg until he was standing behind the laptop and I prepared myself for him to haul back on the laptop screen (again). Instead he slowly leaned his [adorable] head out from behind the screen and absolutely lost it laughing when we made eye contact. I am pretty sure it was the absolute best thing that ever happened in this world, so here is the tail end of it. I admit I selfishly soaked up the experience and only thought to capture the very tail end (trailing off) so here is some video for you.

As our Facebook stalkers may already know we have found a house to rent and are working through the rental agreements and such right now. It is going very well and as good as done. We will move in approx. two weeks from now. As excited as we are to have found this beautiful home in the PERFECT area we are a little sad that we will be on loaner furniture and such for five to six weeks. I think we identify our "things" as a part of ourselves to some degree as well as having given them associations to all of our friends and family that have spent time with us in our home. While it is an unavoidable process, we look forward to sitting in OUR living room again, where we have played with Red Fish and New Fish, wrestled with our nephews, and come together as a family. It is not our top concern or even really an issue at this point, but I think it will go a long way towards giving us a more stable feeling in our new home.

 

One thing that has helped us feel a little more at home is our amazing ward here in Harrogate. We made it to church this past Sunday and were floored by the wonderful welcome we received. I am very grateful for how the Sisters welcomed Jill into the RS. She already has an invitation to a moms group with kids Baby Bears' age, a ride to a RS night this week, and half a dozen phone numbers for new friends rearing to help us with anything we could need. The ward is split almost 50/50 between British and "Rebel" members. As most American members are affiliated with the base this creates a high turnover with families constantly rotating in and out. The ward has a beautiful spirit of welcome about it and we already feel exponentially more welcome here. Of course I did leave my first Sunday with an EQ teaching assignment, but that's a small price to pay right?

Day One

Greetings from England! It's Day One, and I'm happy to report that we survived. Before I start, I have to say that Baby Bear was unbelievably well-behaved during the whole ordeal. He is a serious travel trooper. He fussed (he is 10 months old after all) when things got to be too much, but he never cried or caused a scene causing the entire plane to shoot looks of death in our direction (which is what I was anticipating would happen). He took a nap on the first flight and two naps on the second flight. Everybody commented on what a wonderful baby he is, and I have to agree. The pilot even gave him his first wing pin for being such a champ.

Our marathon travel session started Saturday afternnon. After spending a week directing three different moving companies to clear out certain parts of our house (long term storage, general moving and expedited moving), readying the house for our renters and wrapping up our general affairs, we said our goodbyes and drove out to San Francisco. He woke at 4:30 AM Sunday to get to the airport and flew from SF to Atlanta (about 4.5 hours). After a breif layover in Atlanta (it was just enough time to get lost, get found, eat some lunch and feed the baby) we boarded for our flight from Atlanta to Manchester, UK. This was an 8 hour flight. Ouch! We were so so exhausted. The flight showed three movies and served us 2 meals. When you get served multiple meals on the same flight, that is how you know you've been flying for way too long.

Luckily it all turned out to be a smooth (and LONG) day of travel all in all. No delays. No issues with baggage. No smelly/rude/obnoxious people seated anywhere near us during either flight. We cleared customs where we got to show off our brand new passports and visas (the ones that arrived three days before we left the country), and were on our way. A couple of Brian's co-workers picked us up and drove us to Harrogate, we made it despite  road construction. By this point, our nerves were pretty frayed and Daddy Bear and I considered it a major victory that we didn't go postal on anyone.

We got set up in a temporary, furnished apartment in downtown Harrogate called the Ashness. We'll be here for a month or so until our stuff arrives and we can find a place to live. It is a small but liveable two bedroom with a full kitchen and bath. And it is exactly what I imagined cute little British apartment would be like. There are fleur de lys on all the wrought iron door handles. The bathroom light turns on by pulling a handle on a string. In our bedroom there are big wood bureaus and colored glass in the windows.

The 8 hour time difference is going to take a little getting used to. All three of us were up at 2AM this morning eating our dinner and watching bits of the Giants game online. Daddy Bear had to go in to work this morning to get the mounds of paperwork started and Baby Bear and I are taking it easy today. It is 3PM here and he is just waking up with a huge smile on his face. I didn't have the heart to wake him up myself after the ordeal we put him through yesterday.

Sorry no pictures. The camera is still MIA, and I'm afraid to turn my phone on to take a photo and accidently incur some outrageous international useage fee.  Baby Bear is finally awake and pawing at the computer so that ends my blogging session for now. Hoping to have Skype set up soon so we can see everyone.

Losing my merry old marbles

Somehow it is already October 7. Time could not be ticking away faster. It feels like we have an insurmountable amount of work to do before we can get on a plane and ride it into our future. The stress of this GIANT looming deadline of October 21 has morphed from pull-our-hair-out insanity to almost comedic levels. In addition to many, many other things I'm absolutely sure I'm forgetting, we still have to work out our visas (yep- kind of a huge one), switch the car titles, find a way to get our car to the Bay Area so it can meet us in England, get Brian's other car back to IL, finish sorting our entire house into six piles (trash, give aways, storage, shipment, expedited shipment and pack for plane), clean house, prep for renters...

In addition to all this, I just found out a few days ago that we will not be able to take our sweet little dog with us like I thought we would. I was extremely upset about this for a few days and now I'm just trying not to think about it too much. I wallowed and now I'm in denial.

And, on top of all of that, I could not be more nervous about taking an extremely active (and recently vocal) 10 month old baby on an airplane for 12 hours (it's 16 hours of travel if you include the layover and car ride, but who's counting?!). AHHHH!

I just want to fast forward the next two months and be there with my family, starting our new lives together.I couldn't be more excited about being in England soon, but it is going to be a freaking miracle if we all don't lose our merry old marbles getting there.

The Big Announcement

So some of you may know that the contract I work on was almost lost about a year ago. I have been looking into various job opportunities ever since and a few weeks ago I applied for some of the more promising positions I had found. Last week Mommy Bear and I recieved and accepted a job in England!

I will be working on the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Menwith Hill in my current field for a few years. It is a huge opportunity professionally and will speed up the process of getting one of my target jobs back here at home.

We will most likely be moving to nearby Harrogate. There is even an LDS ward in town and a temple within a half hour drive.

The opportunity we are most excited for is that this will allow Mommy Bear to stay home with our Baby Bear and Cougar Bear. This is the primary drive behind our move. This job will allow for her to leave hers, something we have been working towards for a while now. As excited as we are for the opportunities to travel, immerse ourselves in another culture, and get Mommy Bear home it will be very hard for us to leave all the family and friends we have here. We look forward to coming back to the area as soon as we can. "The Plan" is to be back on the central coast by the the time Baby Bear starts school.

Mommy Bear has her last day of work this Friday. We hope to keep this blog updated at least once a week so that we can keep everyone up to date on where we are and how Baby Bear is doing. We will also link in a Flickr account and finally start using Skype so Baby Bear can video chat with everyone.  

Milestones

I know it is a cliche but Baby Bear is already growing up to fast. He had two teeth at four months with more coming in by six. Now at six and some change he is waving, crawling up anything he can find, having babbling conversations with the baby in the mirror and earning kisses from girls twice his age! I love to watch him figure things out most of all. It is clear that Mommy Bear is going to have to be the cautious balance to my encouragement.

Bears first post

Hello, I am Daddy Bear and this is Mommy Bear.

We meet way back in 2005 at a party in SLO and got married in 2008.

We settled down, bought a house, and had adopted our furry little Cougar Bear by 2010.

Everything was going perfectly.

 Things went so perfectly that in December 2011 we were joined by Baby Bear!

...and it has been a wild ride ever since. There are some BIG changes coming down the line for our family and we have quite a few friends and relatives to keep "in the loop" so we have decided to blog our adventures for everyone to follow. We are learning to take LOTS of pictures and are going to try and update everyone at least once or twice a week. We are all very blessed to have so much love and support for our family and want to thank everyone that has helped us from the bottom of our hearts. Stay tuned these next few weeks for some big photo dumps and some even bigger news.