I’ve been using the wide-angle lens.
Back in my university days, I used a wide-angle lens almost
exclusively, so I thought I would have no trouble with this lens.
I was wrong. It is more difficult to get visually interesting
photos with a wide-angle than a telephoto. A wide-angle will
photograph much more area, and more of it will be in focus,
so you often end up with cluttered pictures with no focal point.
But I’m learning. And it’s a fun lens.
08 January 2008

We got back into Austin Sunday night, but I have been go go go since we arrived home.  Even now I don’t have much time for an update, so I thought I would tell a couple of anecdotes that highlight the quirks of different places.  Or, in shorthand, “Only in…”

“Only in England…”

Matt’s great-aunt who is also one of Lily’s namesakes, Auntie Vera, is in the hospital at the moment and we went to visit her several times while in England.  She shares a room with three other female patients, and above each patient’s bed is a small whiteboard with medical information.  Also on each whiteboard, alongside all the medical information, is how the patient takes her tea. :)  Auntie Vera’s had written, “Vera takes a very small amount of milk in her tea.”

“Only in Austin…”

We had two legs to our journey: London Gatwick to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Austin.  By the time we boarded the plane to Austin, we were all dead tired, including the children.  Damian was very fussy, so I started nursing him on the plane and he fell straight asleep.  As I was nursing him, I thought to myself, “That’s how you know that you’re on a plane to Austin: you see a 40-year-old woman breast-feeding her baby.” 🙂

It’s good to be home.  Like my mom always says, “I love going to see my family and friends, and then I love coming home.”

I take a lot of pictures of the children sleeping with their father.
It’s not that I plan to take so many pictures of my family sleeping together;
it’s just that they are so cute when they are all snuggled together.

The family waking up.
Lily is still asleep, and that is a pacifier in Matt’s mouth.
30 December 2007

When the baby is restless and not sleeping well,
Matt puts him on his chest, and he falls fast asleep.
04 January 2008

There is a very common, yet very incorrect, assumption made between the American and English cultures: we share the English language, so therefore we must have similar cultures.  These two cultures are very different.  There are the immediate obvious differences such as the road system, the housing, and the food… very very different between the two countries.  Then there is the less obvious social differences.  For example, these days, most Americans send Christmas cards that include pictures of their family on the card, whereas sending a photo Christmas card in England is considered as “putting yourself forward;” it’s just not done.

This is my sixth visit to England, and I have become reasonably accustomed to both the obvious and subtle differences between mine and my husband’s cultures.  I enjoy the differences actually; they make the trip really enjoyable and sometimes I even long to live here because there are several things I like better about English culture.

Every now and then though, I am still taken by surprise.  That happened at the Panto today.  Off we go for what is children’s Christmas entertainment.  Parents, grandparents, and loads of children stream into this lovely Victorian theatre in Lincoln.  We settle into our seats with the sound of children’s voices filling the theatre.  The lights go down, and the Panto version of Peter Pan begins.  It starts with a great song and dance number set in London in which we are introduced to the Darling family.

And then the high-kicking starts.  Beautiful ladies in their full skirts kick way into the sky… wearing nothing underneath but little white panties and sheer stockings over those.  The high-kicking and panty shots continue through the entire production of Peter Pan.  I haven’t seen so much fan service since I read the Video Girl Ai manga.

When we got home, Lily and I sat down for dinner with Matt’s mum and dad (Matt went to play badminton with his brother), and we began discussing the Panto.  I mentioned how surprised I was by the panty shots, and they didn’t even really notice!  Apparently the high kicking and twirling is a traditional part of that style of dancing and it is considered athletic.  Yet another interesting and entertaining difference between the cultures.

One more fun and trippy thing about the Panto:  I was starting to get the hang of the rhythm of the Panto.  It was a straight-forward musical version of Peter Pan except they would do silly, interactive things with the children in the audience during set changes.  The first scene after the intermission begins like all the others with Tigerlily telling Capt Hook that she has many friends to help her.  She has the children in the audience count down from ten to introduce her friends, and who should be her friends, entering from stage right and stage left, but Mr Man, Little Miss, a monkey, and a bear.  Then they all start singing and dancing.  That was the only truly surreal part of it.  Well, other than the constant panty shots.

I did really enjoy it, as did Lily and Damian.  And I have to say, the beautiful high-kicking ladies and their knickers actually added to overall enjoyment.  As a travelling connoisseur of cultures, I can tell you the differences are almost always trippy at first and then fun.

It snowed in Lincoln this morning;
Grannie and Grandpa took turns
holding Damian while Lily played
in the snow.
03 January 2008

We have two days left in England, and then we spend all day Sunday travelling back to Austin.  Tomorrow we go to see the Panto.  I’m really looking forward to it after hearing so many stories from Matt of going to see the Panto as a child.  It’s also nice that he is sharing this tradition with his own children.  I am a little worried because I have worked it up so much in my mind.  Hopefully the event can live up to the anticipation.

In four days we’ll be back home, and that’s when it will feel like the New Year will begin.  I’m still in holiday limbo at the moment where neither time nor calories actually occur.  The New Year is a big deal for me — it always feels joyful because I am so excited and hopeful.  I’ve got plans.  I always have plans, but, at the New Year, my plans seem gold-plated and full of promise.

Plans.  I love plans.  I love visions of an exciting and passionate possible future.  That’s what the New Year is:  it’s hope and redemption.  The redemption does not come into play so much for me anymore; I find redemption by other means.  One day I may blog on that.  In fact, I had a dream about it recently.  Maybe I’ll post the dream; it was very interesting.

Anyways,  hope and excitement are definitely part of the New Year for me.  And it all starts in four days upon our return to Austin. 🙂

Grannie with her grandson, Christmas Holiday 2007

25 December 2007

30 December 2007

We’re knackered.  We’ve had a very busy, very enjoyable, very full holiday.  But now we’re knackered.  The thing is, we’re not done yet.  It’s only January 1st — Lily’s 3rd birthday, by the way.  We still have a visit to Auntie Lily and Auntie Vera, Damian’s 1st birthday party, going to the Pantomime, and we have to exchange a clock at Toys R Us because it has a broken second hand.  (Matt’s mum said that our clock from Toys R Us was a bit “naff.”  Turns out that means “without taste.”  It has a fluffy pink feather boa glued around the edge — perhaps a bit “naff,” but certainly with a bit of fun. 😉 )

Happy New Year.  It’s been great so far. 🙂

The children spent the first hour of Christmas morning snuggled on Daddy’s lap, waking up and opening the stockings that Santa brought in the night.

We’re having a very very nice Christmas holiday in England. To give you an example, I have been dealing with severe jetlag, sporadic sleep, and I got ill with a stomach virus and have been unable to eat. And yet, with all this, I’ve still had a great time with Matt’s family.

As an adult, and particularly as a parent, the joy of Christmas changes from receiving presents to watching the joy of other people receive your presents, and in particular watching your children receive your presents.

So, as we bought the gifts for the children through the first part of December, I was getting more and more excited about watching the joy on the children’s faces come Christmas morning.  I thought this would be the high point of my Christmas.

I was wrong.

The highest point of my Christmas has been watching my husband come alive.  He has been away from England and his family for three Christmases in a row.  Last Christmas, the third Christmas away from home, he was very melancholy the whole holiday.  We both agreed then, even if he had to thumb down a plane on the runway, he had to go home for Christmas.

And, though I knew he would be happy coming home, I didn’t expect to see the light glow inside of him like it has this Christmas.  He has lit up like a Christmas tree.  This trip home has rejuvenated his… his… well… everything inside him and outside him and his children and wife near him.  He did really need to come home for Christmas.

Also, my in-laws bought me a wide-angle lens for my Nikon D70s!  So the joy of Christmas this year was about receiving gifts as well. ;)  Expect to see wide-angle pictures uploaded soon.  Matt and I have both been playing with the lens a lot.

And then, of course, watching the joy on my children’s faces, as well as the faces of all of Matt’s family.

It’s been a really nice holiday.

A heroic amount of clementines get eaten at the Woodings’ household
at Christmas time. Damian is carrying on the tradition.
22 December 2007

It is 4am local time (GMT), and I am wide awake.  I have been awake all night.  This is not a good thing.  My children will be getting up soon to open Christmas presents from Santa.  And then we are going to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa’s house for lunch.  Then back home to open the rest of the Christmas presents when Uncle Ben and Auntie Allison get here, followed by a large Christmas feast.

In other words, I have a very full social day ahead of me on no sleep.  I’m a shy, introverted nerd.  I need sleep to be “on form” during social events.  For extroverts, parties are food for the soul; for introverts, parties are work.  Don’t get me wrong, introverts enjoy parties, but we tend to be tense and nervous.  Lack of sleep just compounds the problem.

This is the first time I have been this badly jetlagged.  The jetlag is always a hassle, but I’ve never been awake at 4am before.

Oh well.  At least it’s Christmas.  Everyone should be in an extremely good mood and my lack of coherence or response may go unnoticed.

Merry Christmas. 🙂

Daddy and Damian fell fast asleep on the couch
after the hard 24-hour journey to Lincoln, England.
22 December 2007

We had a grueling 24-hour journey which involved missed plane connections and missed trains, dealing with Delta Airlines (anyone who has flown Delta knows what I mean by “dealing with Delta” — this was not the first time we have missed our flight connection while flying Delta), dragging five bags of luggage and two sleeping children in strollers through the London Underground, waiting in a warm pub on a cold day at King’s Cross Station while Grandpa Damian sorted out new train tickets, and running – literally running – down platform three with five bags of luggage and two sleeping children in strollers to get a seat on the train (the train was fully booked and it was first come/first served; if you didn’t get a seat, you would have to wait for the next train).

But we are in England now and I’m finally not tense.  And it finally feels like Christmas.  Cold weather, lots of pressies under the tree, surrounded by family, grandparents doting on the grandchildren and planning a magical Christmas for everyone, loads of sweeties in the kitchen.  It definitely feels like Christmas.

Christmas in England with Matt’s family is always fun and warm.  It’s going to be a good Christmas. 🙂

Damian
18 December 2007

I’ve become a flake.  I hate being a flake.  I was a flake in my 20s.  I was the flighty sister that you could never rely upon.  I liked this persona and even fostered it.  It let me get out of a lot of responsibilities.

But then, in my 30s, I changed without planning it or even realizing it.  I became reliable.  If you needed something to get done in the family, it became known that you could leave it with me.  And it turned out, I liked being reliable.  I liked being the responsible one.

But now that I have two children, I have become the flake again, and I’m really not happy about it.  Emails go unanswered; promises remain undelivered; the house does not get cleaned before guests arrive.

I hate being a flake.  I hate it.  I’m just going to have to learn how to have two small children and not be a flake.  That takes work though, and I am still a bit lazy.  That never changed. 😉

Sleeping family.
16 December 2007

Matt and I have been co-sleeping with our children for three years now, since Lily was born.  The whole family, all four of us, sleep together in a king-size bed.  I mostly get looks of disapproval when I explain that we co-sleep, and both my mom and Matt’s parents have encouraged us to move the children out of the bed.  If you decide to co-sleep, expect to constantly defend your decision.

I thought a fair number of people co-sleep with their children, but my playgroup did an internal sampling.  We have about fifteen families in the playgroup, and only two of the families co-sleep.  I really was surprised by this.  I realize that we are by no means a random sample; the playgroup is all caucasian, all of us are housewives with bachelor degrees, and all of us are married to degreed husbands who have manager-type positions.  Not a random sample at all.  But still, I would have expected more of us to co-sleep with our children.

Now after three years of co-sleeping with two small children, I have some advice to pass on.  There are many benefits to co-sleeping.  I’m not going to list them here; you can google it.  However, there are several drawbacks.  The one you will notice first is the lack of sleep.  More people in the bed means less room, and the children, especially babies, will wake you in the night.  But you don’t get sleep as a parent anyway, so that one is actually pretty insignificant.

There is one drawback that needs to be fully considered though:  you don’t snuggle with your spouse.  And I don’t mean wink-wink nudge-nudge “snuggle,” but as in hugging, talking, touching, holding, being with one another snuggling.  This hugging, talking, touching, holding, and being with one another is an essential ingredient to the bonding of two people.  When you remove that, there is stress — real dangerous stress.

Co-sleeping nurtures the children.  The children are surrounded by love and sleep in love.  But there is a sacrifice for this — the relationship between the parents is not nurtured.  The nurturing shifts to the children.  And though the children do need this abundant love to grow into stable, confident, independent adults, your marriage also needs love — or, like all things left in a desert, it will wither and decay.

Matt and I learned this the hard way.  I’m still a proponent of co-sleeping, but, if you do decide to co-sleep, make sure to find a way to nurture the physical connection with your spouse.  Holding and whispering and soft conversations in the night help create a strong marriage.  And a strong marriage is a strong family.

The kids ready to go Christmas shopping.
Lily is looking fabulous, as always, in her
new cowgirl boots and Christmas tights.
13 December 2007

We’re leaving in a week for England, and we have soooo much to do before we leave.  But isn’t Christmas like this every year: scrambling to get everything done?  One year, we decided to make homemade cookies for the neighbors.  Wow.  That was a lot of work.  But we felt like happy Christmas elves leaving cookies on everybody’s doorstep at dawn on Christmas.  That part was a lot of fun.

This year, we are trying to get our Christmas shopping done and the house clean before we leave for England.  I told my mom that there are two empty beds and two empty cars here if she needed them.  So some people are staying at our house for a few days over the Christmas holiday as loads of people come into town, and they are figuring out beds for everyone.  That means, we have to clean our house before we leave.  But, on the upside, it will be clean when we get back, and it’s always nice to come home to a clean house after a long journey.

Matt did the Christmas present shopping this year, and he got through the majority of the list in just a few hours!  I said, “You’re doing the Christmas shopping every year!”  We have about four more presents to get, and then we’re done.

It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas. 🙂