finally...a winter wonderland

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!  On Friday, England had it's first major snowstorm of the year and we got about 5 inches here in Grantchester.  That means the entire Cambridge area shut down.  It was really beautiful and it has stuck around the whole weekend.  We thought Cal's first snow would be MN so it was a pleasant surprise.  We're off to MN tomorrow for Calvin's first Christmas and I'm not sure how much time we'll have for posting the next two weeks.  So have a great holiday season and we'll see you in the New Year!

The snow covered fields of Grantchester

 

Cal's first walk through the snow in the village

 

Ducks on the River Cam

 

 River Cam

The picture says it all

 

Our stroll through the paths and sidewalks of Cambridge

(no, they do not seem to have shovels or salt here)

grantchester home tour!

It's that moment you've all been waiting for...the house tour!  It's taken me three months to take pics of the rooms and they are still not that great.  I need to get one of those 360 degree cameras.

As a reminder, here is the outside:

We are the middle house with the door in the center of the picture

When you come through the front door, you enter the sitting room, where Cal spends a lot of time rolling around on the floor:

Cal is actually rolling on the floor here

View of the front door and window

You then go through another door and you enter the dining room:

Yes, it's always a mess

Through the next door is the galley kitchen:

Can't have too many cooks in the kitchen here

Then finally the bathroom:

From the dining room there is the staircase leading to the second level:

The first room on the right is Cal's room (aka the guest room when we have visitors):

Single bed on the left but there is another one underneath it

And finally the room facing the front of the house is our bedroom:

No closet so our clothes are on display (and no, the fireplace is not usable)

Scrummy toes! (that means delicious over here)

We don't have a back garden or any storage but here is where we supposedly can sip our morning coffee in the summer (and where I can hang the washing when it stops raining):

View from the dining room window (galley kitchen on the right) and

Cal's 'rugged' stroller for the cow poop covered paths (it lives outside for a reason)

So that's where we spend most of our time (a LOT of our time for Calvin and me).  Pretty exciting, don't you think?

lazy days

We haven't done a whole lot of exploring lately.  Weekends come around and we try and catch up on sleep or run errands.  Super exciting.  We're getting ready to head back to Minnesota for the holidays (Sam's birthday is the big one), then when we get back we can start to dream of spring and a little more daylight to do things in.  The latitude problem is better here than it was in Scotland, but it's still kind of grim.  Here are a few shots of what little we've up to though.

Crawling practice.  We put toys well out of reach and taunt him.  He can hoist himself up pretty high (like the cobra position for the yoga nerds) but so far he just scoots backwards a few inches and rolls over.  

Hanging out in dimly lit pubs.  Pints for us, quarter-pint for him.

 

Bath time!  He has a chewable turtle and some dolphins to play with, which is good.  The non-slip butt pad in the tub seems to be more of a marketing gimmick than anything functional, but that's ok. 

flashback image:

  

He's happier in the bath now than he was at 11 weeks, and about three times as massive.

photo shoot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

all on his own

Yep, Cal can now sit up on his own for longer than 30 seconds.  Up next: crawling.

Yes, he is wearing a CK onesie.  No, he is not named after the designer.

babysitting

We had a real treat in la casa de Moeckel last weekend.  Nick and I were invited out to dinner with 26 other people welcoming the new post-docs at Cambridge.  Since we're new to the area, we didn't know any babysitters (or anyone with kids) and thought we wouldn't be able to go.  Then Aunty Mary came to the rescue!  She took a 5 hour train from Wales just to spend the weekend with Calvin.  This boy (and his parents) are certainly very lucky to have her.  She and Cal spent a lot of time together while Nick and I enjoyed our dinner out and then went to the movies the next day (finally saw "Up"!).  Unfortunately we haven't had the nicest weather so we didn't get to spend much time showing off Cambridge but we did get in some walks around Grantchester.

Already asleep in the babysitter's arms

 

On a muddy walk in Grantchester

 

Close-up of Cal bundled up for the walk (and starting to fall asleep)

In other news, Cal is becoming more active and he looks like he could start crawling soon.  Last night he made it across the floor to get to a toy but not in the most graceful or efficient way.  He is getting there though which means I better get ready to be on the move.  Also, I've started going to some baby groups in the area and have met some other mums too.  As usual, Cal beams his biggest smile while we're out and is always very charming.  Looks like we have a social boy on our hands!  His favorite thing to do right now is blow raspberries which means 20 times the drool.  I think he can soak a bib in 10 seconds flat now.

Drooly MacCalvin

And Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with some other Americans on Thursday AND Saturday but we don't know if there will actually be any turkey at either of these parties.  So eat some extra turkey and pumpkin pie for us!

rugby in the homeland

This last weekend was Cal's first trip to Wales, where my parents were born and raised.  Cal and I drove out to Swansea mid-week and he slept for most of the 5 hour trip with a stop outside of London to see my mom's cousin, Judith, and my second cousin, Rachel.  Calvin was a real charmer with them and he even got to celebrate Christmas early with some awesome new toys.  We then spent a few days with Aunty Mary and Uncle Ken before Nick joined us on Friday.  On Saturday, Christmas came early for Nick and I as well as we got to go to a Wales rugby game while Aunty Mary babysat Cal.  Wales was playing New Zealand and we got to see the famous haka performed by the NZ team (the All Blacks) while the entire stadium chanted "Wales, Wales!".  It was an amazing atmosphere and an exciting game, despite Wales losing 12 to 19.  Even though Cal wasn't at the game, he was showing his Welsh pride by wearing the red jersey.  Here are a few pics from Saturday:

Cal showing his game face

 

Cal and Aunty Kath

The Babysitter (Aunty Mary) and Cal

Go Wales!

(Nick is not in this picture because he doesn't have a Welsh rugby jersey, poor guy)

The flower of Wales is the daffodil, for those of you who are wondering why we have a giant inflatable one at the game

The All Blacks performing the haka to the Welsh team

In other news, Cal had his first doctor's appointment in Cambridge.  The doctor is very pleased with Calvin's progress and he weighs a whopping 17 lb 14 oz!  That is still considered average for his adjusted age of 6 months (his actual age is 8 months).  He is also still a tall boy at 70 cm (27.5 in).  The doctor and nurse we met were all really nice so I'm happy about that too.  Way to go NHS!

some trees, a ceiling, and eating

We have a bit of catching up to do, I guess.  Fall is in full effect now, and we've had a nice time poking around the city.  Each week that passes brings some new skills to Cal's set- he's happy to help out with his feeding by smashing his fist into the spoon or bottle, he rolls over in several directions, and he has an amazing variety of shrieks at his disposal.

Autumn is probably my favorite time of year (really unique, I know).  I find myself listening to music and thinking 'yeah, this is a good fall song', crisp air is the best kind of air, and biking home in the dark is still enough of a novelty that it's interesting instead of the grind it's going to be in January*.  Two years ago at this time we were carefree and on vacation in Paris; last year we were getting used to the idea of being parents, and to living in another country; now we've got a mildly crazy little human dominating our lives.    It's been an interesting progression.  Anyway, autumn is the king of all seasons- here are some pictures from the last few weeks, featuring dying leaves, King's college chapel's roof, and Calvin's adventures in eating.  Sam will have a more exciting post in the next few days involving Welsh rugby.

*The dark colored (coloured) cows that loom out of the shadows and randomly loiter on the bike path make it like a terrifying game, so maybe the novelty won't wear off until February. 

 

 

lazy weekend

We didn't do a whole lot this weekend. Calvin worked on his breakdancing for a little while:

Bam!

Then we wandered over the Orchard to have lunch and tea. Calvin was rocking a new pumpkin hat, so he was looking pretty good.

He's been kind of smirky lately.

From some angles, he looks giant.

Sam calms him down so we can all enjoy a really beautiful fall day.

Sometimes he likes this, sometimes he just pulls hair.