Across the Pond

Today, DumbMom over at Parenting by Dummies, is hosting Old School Photo Friday. So, I started digging through some old photos and found this one:

That's me circa 1999 in Wales. Betws-y-Coed, Snowdonia to be exact. My husband was stationed in England from 1996-2000. We were married in 1998 and I joined him in England from 1998-2000. It was an awesome experience! I would love to go back! We visited so many wonderful places- all of which I would love to visit again.

My most vivid memory of Wales was while driving through a village, and elderly woman with a cane flagged us down. We stopped and she asked us for a ride to church. We agreed and she immediately informed me there was no way she was climbing in the back seat of our little English car and banished me to the backseat. I obliged and she climbed in.

Once in the car, she informed us that church was the next village over. We were heading that way anyway, so we drove where she requested. When we arrived at the church, she got out of the car, left her cane in it and went inside to see if her friends were there. They were not, so she requested we take her somewhere else. We drove her around for forty-five minutes from church to church and village to village each time with her leaving her cane in our car so that we couldn't leave her. Finally, hysterical with laughter, at yet, ANOTHER church, DJ and were hurriedly trying to discuss what to do before she came back. We decided to just leave and she could get another ride if she needed it. I worried about her cane, so he quickly threw her cane on the little walk right in front of the church and we sped away, laughing hysterically and certain all the other villagers were laughing at the stupid tourists that gave a ride to the village nut.

So.. if you find a lost elderly woman in Wales...

...OR if you hear about the time the Americans kidnapped the Welsh lady...

...well, you haven't seen us. Alright?

**Disclaimer: My husband wants me to add this disclaimer because he is afraid this sounds too mean-spirited. The villages in Wales (England too) are all very close together and when we left her, she was within 5 miles of where we picked her up. We didn't just dump an old woman off in the middle of the countryside. She was sharp as a tack and had all her wits about her. It was clear after the fourth stop, that she was just using us as a taxi cab to go from place to place and we had to get on our way. We don't normally pick up hitchhikers, but as we were driving through the village, she literally stepped in front of our car to flag us down. We had to stop to keep from hitting her and when she asked for a ride to church, we didn't see any harm in it. Europe is not like America. I think I'm done now. Carry on.

Moving Forward

I am not having anymore children. In all reality, I don't really WANT anymore children, but I must admit, my womb aches when I see tiny babies. They are always cute in the daytime. It's the nighttime my kids/babies have trouble with.

So, yeah. No more babies. I am ready to move on to a world without diapers ( we are so close, I can feel it) and having to pack an enormous bag everywhere I go. I am ready to have children that aren't quite so needy all the time. It's nice when they gain a little independence.

Yes, no more babies.

But, it is on those days when I am sorting through all my (gazillion) files of pictures on my hard drive and I come across photos like this:

(Noah@ 14 months)

...that my ovaries lurch, throwing off the cobwebs and perch, ready to spring into action.

But, then, I run across things like this:

(Noah throwing a fit at 23 months while his parents laughed and recorded it)

...and this:





(Zoe during the Epic Sleep Battle of Fall '09- the banging noise is her kicking her door, the video was shot at 3:30 am and the short version of the entire story is that she learned to crawl out of her crib, chaos ensued, and it took me NINE WEEKS- almost on my own, my husband was away six weeks- to get her to sleep through the night again!)


And yes, no more babies.




*If you would like to catch up on the sleep battle, you can read about it here ,here, here and the gripping finale, here.


** Also, I am linking up today with Dumb Mom's Old School Friday and Friday Follow.