Summer Fashion Week - Tuesday

With the temperature hitting a scorching 61 degrees today and a storm coming in tonight, I thought I would take advantage of the good weather and wear another summery outfit.

Dress: Sugarhill (picked up from a store over here in Scotland)

Leggings: Gap
Shoes: Urban Outfitters
Ankle Candy: My son Connor

I really love this dress. It has various colored buttons down one side of it. They are useless, but cute. And, the detail on the top is really cute and summery. The only downside of the dress is it wrinkles the instant you put it on. But, that doesn't really bother me anyway...I didn't even bother to iron it today!

Weekly Date Night

I am taking part in Summer Fashion Week this week...and as you all know, I am oh-so-fashion. Okay, so not really. But, it gives my mom a chance to see my smiling face every day and I know she likes that. So, here it goes, my outfit for the day...I am all dressed up for a date night with the husband. If you would like to read about my thoughts on the date night, see my ramblings after the picture. Oh, and it is a tab bit windy over here on the North Sea, so I couldn't get a picture outside without my hair in my face!

Before I had a kid, I thought the concept of a weekly date night made sense. A weekly time alone with your spouse; time to talk and connect outside of baby. After having said baby, I realize how totally and completely unpractical these weekly date nights are! Okay, so maybe if you live by your family and get free baby sitting all the time, they totally work. But, I live on the other side of the world. And, mooching off the few people who qualify in my book as "baby sitters" every single week, just isn't going to fly. Plus, before we had the little one, we didn't even go out to eat once a week (it is butt expensive to go out to eat over here), so why we would do it after the little bundle of joy came along is beyond me.

I would like to take it a step further and argue that there are couples with weekly date nights who have the crappiest of marriages and there are couples who have the bi-yearly date night and they are living in wedded bliss. Its all about what you make it. Isn't a date night a time for you and your spouse to reconnect? Have some quiet time and just talk? My solution, turn off the freaking tv, throw the computers and cell phones out the front door...look at each other and actually talk. I am pretty sure you don't have to leave your house to connect with each other, but you do have to get rid of all the distractions. I am also not saying that date nights are a bad thing, because lets face it, all of us want to go out to eat sometimes, but they just aren't practical for everyone. And for those of us who fall into that category, we shouldn't feel that our marriage is on the fasttrack to the crapper just because of that.

So I ask, how many of you truly have a weekly date night? Oh, and who does your babysitting?

Oh, and Ian and I are headed out for a date night tonight. First one in over a month. Ian's sister is in town for a week and we are taking advantage of the free baby sitting by having a night to ourselves. Thought you would like to know!

Hogwarts Express

This weekend we took a trip over to the west coast of Scotland. While there, we took a ride on the Hogwarts Express...also known as the Jacobite. It is a steam engine train that they used in the Harry Potter films for part of the journey to Hogwarts (it was in some of the scenery shots, but not used for the inside). It has also been awarded the most beautiful train ride in the world for both 2009 and 2010.

It was a good train ride. The most beautiful in the world? I wouldn't know. I haven't been on all of them! Some of the highlights for me were the train tracks being literally inches away from a river, the smell of coal (and the coal pieces coming thru the train window) and the train steaming up when we would go thru a tunnel.

When we walked down to the train engine, all Connor could do was stare. Obviously it was large and it was making noise. People seriously had to try hard to get him to look at the camera for pictures. It was cute seeing how into it he was.

Also, the weather held off for us. We had a beautiful train ride. On the trip back, the clouds started rolling in. About 30 minutes after we got back, it started raining. Good timing on our part (or God's)!

The bridge used in the Harry Potter films

Connor doing a little light reading on the train

Connor Making Friends

We went to the park today to meet up with some people from our church. One of the ladies invited along her sister-in-law, who has a little girl (Mia) that is a month older than Connor. Honestly, I was a little excited to watch them interact. I thought Connor would be thrilled about his encounter with another small person. Well, for about 30 minutes, they just plain ignored each other. I tried sitting him next to her, laying him next to her and pointing her out. Nothing seemed to work. Then all the sudden, something clicked and he went for her. He grabbed her feet, poked her in the face, in the head and crawled on top of her. It almost seemed like they were having a baby wrestling match of sorts. It was cute. I am glad Connor got to interact with someone his age and hopefully as he grows up, he will be a little nicer to the ladies!

Connor seems a bit more excited about the friendship than Mia does!

Maybe Connor just doesn't want to share his sock monkey!

Connor going for the tackle.

Sleep

It may sometimes be a struggle for Connor to get to sleep, but once he does, he is so stinking cute! And honestly, why can't I look this cute when I am sleeping?!?

And for good measure, one of him sleeping this weekend, all tucked away between the wall and the bed:

Weekend Update

The fun:
Going to Edinburgh for the weekend.
Staying with friends.
Enjoying some nice, warm, sunny weather.
Ian's sister coming to visit.
Connor trying to crawl.

The Funny:
Connor grunting and turning red...doing a you-know-what.
Making a bed for Connor in between the wall and the bed we slept on.
Running into someone we know from Aberdeen in Edinburgh.
Reading Superfreakonomics.

The OHMYGOSH:
Ian & our friend trying to catch a mouse in their box room.
Running into someone who hasn't seen me since I was pregnant...
Them telling me I look smaller...uh, thanks?
Not realizing it is the 4th of July.
Teething. Need I say more?


How was your weekend?
You get up to much?

Teething Sucks

I don't get it. I thought sleeping thru the night was a success. Then came this glorious thing they call "teething". Now my great sleeper is up two to three times a night. And the crying, oh the crying. I feel so bad for my little guy. The tears, the screams. And sometimes during the day he is only content in my arms. I know he doesn't feel well. And it makes for long days for both him and I. If anyone has any advice on how to get thru this rough patch easier, I am all ears!

Sorry for the lack of posts...but that is what I have been facing lately.