Memory Loss

Yesterday a newspaper had a story about new moms' memory loss. It caught my attention because I am often frustrated by how much I forget when others seem to remember (mainly Jon and Emily retain much more than I do). Thankfully, the article did say we don't get dumber, our brains are just getting a workout like sleep-deprived medical residents. A neuropyschiatrist said, "You are learning a lot. Once your mommy brain gets readjusted, you get more efficient and you become smarter and learn things faster, but it won't happen all at once."
My question is how long do I give my brain to readjust?

What Do Moms Do?

Tonight for Family Home Evening I asked the question: What do Moms do?
Here are some of the great answers that gave me a little glimpse of what my girls think of me:
-stay home and watch the children who don't go to school
-clean the house
-stay up
-brush hair and listen to the kids scream
-read boring books
-marry
-kiss
-hug
-travel
-they have a big job when the husband's not around (Emily prayed tonight that I won't be stressed while Jon's away)
-read the newspaper at hotels
-play games
-move to a different country and a new house
But here is my favorite!
-eat ice cream while watching the telly lying on the couch when the kids are in bed (This one was provided by Emily. I was laughing so hard because she was sooo enthusiastic about it and thought it was funny. I asked her when I did that. "In America, when I was 4 years old. I saw the bowl and spoon with a little bit of melted ice cream in it sitting on the floor in front of the couch!) BUSTED!!!

Happy Mothering Sunday!

Today Britain celebrated Mothering Sunday. We did as well--it was a practice run for the real one in May! The rehearsal went well, with only a few script changes needed. Here are my notes to the director:
I thought the whole "Breakfast in bed" scene was quite funny! A bowl of Fruit 'N Fibre (thanks Rachel) eaten standing up while getting dressed for church was a nice comedic beginning. Set designer--nice job with the beautiful flowers waiting in the kitchen--nice touch with the hand-picked daffodils--very personal, very sentimental--it connects with the audience.
(Note to cast: Could we switch the real production to a Saturday? Getting kids ready for church isn't really working for me.) Nice humorous touch with the mother walking around church with a huge spit up trail going down her shirt! Very funny!
I liked the dinner--simple yet tasty. Could we rewrite the whole dinner script to something a bit more happy, though? Something that says, "I love my family. We are always kind and happy. I eat all my food and never whine." I think that would portray 'We are a happy family' much better than "She took my fork. I don't want to eat it. GIVE ME MY FORK!"
It was all going so well, but I thought it ended much too soon. The father leaving right after lunch for a business trip to Ireland left me wanting much more. The lonely mother having Family Home Evening by herself with her four girls talking about mothers was a bit too real, wasn't it? How about a nice "And they (meaning everyone) lived happily ever after" ending next time closing with a shot of the father putting all the kids to bed while the mother goes off to relax with a big bowl of ice cream reading a book lying on the couch?
Well done, everyone. We'll make a few changes to the script and be ready for the real thing come May.
Break a leg!

Again?

In preparation for Relief Society's birthday celebration, I borrowed some ideas from a website that based the activity around purses (a "purse"onal invitation, a purse game, purse decorations, our life is like a purse full of important/not important things, etc.). After sharing the idea with the Enrichment leader, I made 50 (cute) purse invitations and 2 big purse posters. I was feeling good that the evening had an easy theme to work with and it was going to be fun!
I ended up being in Nursery today, so I gave everything to the Enrichment leader. She hung up the posters and handed out the invitations. Remember what happened last time I made an effort to have something catchy for the meeting? Well, I have done it again. I have continued my theme of "it's not really funny or cute to anyone but me!" After church I found out that they're not called purses!!! They're called handbags!!! So, today I just gave everyone her own personal handbag invitation (that said, "Bring your purse for a game!") that probably confused the heck out of everyone and sounded a bit odd!
What could I possibly do for June's Enrichment meeting to keep the theme going?!?

Doctor's Visit

Today Rachel had a visit with a "paediatric endocrinologist". Here is a very quick summary of the experience.
I left the house a little after 12:30 to go to the bank (cash is good to have). Hannah and Lizzie got dropped off at a friend's house a few cities over. I picked up Emily and Rachel from school a few more cities over and we drove to the Tube station. We took the Tube into London and made it for her 3:00 appointment. We met with the nice, young doctor who was running a bit behind (30 minutes). I was relieved to find that he uses the same tests that our American doctor uses. And the blood lab was in the same building! Good things!
Rachel's a trooper. She's done this twice a year since she was born to test her thyroid levels. She turned down the numbing cream (she's never been offered that before!) and didn't even flinch when the needle went in. She loved showing off the plaster (band-aid) and sticker and saying how brave she is because "it doesn't even hurt--it just feels like someone is hugging my arm."
Time to go home. We take the Tube back, pick up the car, pick up Lizzie and Hannah and are back to the house a little before 6! The girls eat cereal and toast for dinner while I feed Lizzie. They (all 4) take a quick bath and are in bed by 7:15--just in time for Jon to say goodnight.
Here are my thoughts:
I'm exhausted!
I think it's funny that it took as long as it did!
I'm so glad we have private insurance (as opposed to using the NHS) so Rachel can be seen by a specialist.
I'm glad I know someone who can watch my kids--she just moved here from Houston 5 weeks ago.
I can understand why many American moms here have au pairs (foreign nannies).

Do You Do This?

Last night I was craving a chicken finger recipe I made a year or two ago. Chicken strips dipped in coconut, pecans and something else. Of course, I left the cookbook with the recipe in the States. Luckily, I found a similar one on allrecipes.com. Here's what the recipe called for:

1 1/2 cups plain fat-free yogurt
2/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
2/3 cup panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 pounds chicken breast, cut in 1-inch wide strips

I had not been shopping since we got back from our trip, so our fridge was looking a bit scarce--no milk, no eggs, no bread, no butter and definitely no panko, pecans or plain yogurt. I was not deterred, though, because I am resourceful! Here is what my version of the recipe looked like:

5 containers of kids' raspberry/strawberry yogurts

coconut (American version thanks to Carrie)

crushed up Special K cereal with berries (I thought I had picked out all the berries, but Jon said I missed some!)

walnuts

chicken

I thought they tasted great! So did Emily. Jon's comment: "They tasted like breakfast. I like breakfast."

I went shopping last night. I wanted salmon and red pepper soup for V-day and I couldn't think of what to substitute for those things--we're out of canned tuna and tomatoes! :)

Signs of Spring

Winter here has been very mild (especially when I think of what's going on in Chicago and Utah!). I appreciate mild winters, but man do I love spring--especially when it starts in February! Yesterday the girls and I played outside--it was a perfect sunshiny day. They picked the flowers growing by our house, and we saw our first ladybug of the year. All very good things.