Yes..i have an accent..NO i'm not from Scotland....

No matter what shop i go in, whatever doctor i see the conversation starts as follows
"Oh you don't sound as if you are from around here" -" No. We moved here from the UK a month ago"
"Ah i have never been to the UK are you from Scotland?" "No. We are from the south of the UK."
"I know a friend of a friend who lived in the UK, near London.. it was a town with a nice bridge...."
- bang. head. against. wall!!!!!!

Having been here for 6 weeks now, it's starting to feel a little more comfy. The weather over the past few days have been really nice and warm. It's been amazing to watch the kids and the dog run around in a nice garden and actually have a good time.
They have made good friends with the neighbours children, who are of the same age. I have to call them in every night as they could spend all night playing with them if they could. The neighbour also has a dog, which Gizmo is very happy about. Although, this dog is 6 months old, still on a lead, and gizmo is taking full advantage of that!
He has settled in well, the first night it was like having a puppy again, he took ages to settle and was wandering around the house getting used to all the smells. I think he also had a bit of jetlag after stopping over in Chicago for 7 hours. It was quite stressful for him, but he is so content now, it is a big relief.

Easter weekend i was a grump! I was really conscious of what normal activities we do, easter egg hunt and a nice easter meal with mum. I felt really emotional all weekend because i was out of normal routine. So, we made up a new routine. We did a massive easter egg hunt around the house and garden and went for a lovely walk. We had a lovely roast on Saturday night, and a full fatty Mcdonalds at lunch!
The kids didn't notice that they didn't have their 20 eggs each, they were too busy trying to find the ones i hid. It made me realize i was over thinking it as i always do! Although, i did have to dash to the supermarket and buy MORE easter eggs as the ones i had spent $35 on.. i STUPIDLY put in a cupboard above the microwave.. and when it came to getting them out on Saturday night.. they were all melted!!! Of course the easter bunny got the blame for that one when i told the kids the next day.. not silly mummy.... :)

I had a few emotional days last week where i was missing things in the UK. Not enough to warrant the tears that's for sure. But this week, with Gizmo here and me feeling able to go somewhere and not get lost, it's starting to feel a lot easier. The days are going quicker! I'm missing my friends that i saw on a weekly basis, the banter at the pub, and mum and mick. But i know i also know i have just got to get on with it and things will get better as they go along. Which they are. I have made a few friends with the neighbours and invited some over. I just have to get out of my comfort zone and not be afraid to ask!

Kids are getting on fine at school, Lucas is learning about the area and diameter of shapes... which i just leave to dave to sort.. Ollie is doing really well with his spelling and maths. It's a little too easy for him but he is also quite lazy so it works out fine!
Dave is getting busier at work, going off to see customers all suited and booted, makes me feel proud of how far he has come since when i met him he was a engineer who didn't want to get out of bed in the morning.. actually.. not everything has changed there!! :)

Bump is getting bigger, i am 34 weeks this week! We have yet to purchase any baby things!! Or decide on a name! Been completely rubbish this time around, but we are aiming to get some things within the next few weeks!

Anyway, nothing new has happened really, except we have more sun than you!! so :p

Ta-ra for now!
xxx

Normality returns..sort of

Last week was manic! The car insurance company wanted $3.5k for 6 months, just for me to drive around in our new car on my UK license! So in order to get me insured for a much more reasonable price, i had to get a social security number and take a driving test to get my US license!
Sitting around in the social security office for 2 hours was painful enough, but when it came to taking my theory i was number 15 in the line and they are on number 50, (it goes back to 1 after 99)! Thankfully dave had done this the previous week and told me to meet him for lunch and go back in a hour!
Last time i did my theory in the UK they had just introduced the hazard perception test, so here i was thinking it was going to be similar.NOPE! You get handed a piece of paper with 4 sheets, and they are all multiple choice questions! Some of them were common sense, others were pure guess work!
Thankfully i only got 10 wrong, and they still passed me! I then had to book in for a road test... i was really nervous! I've always said if i were to have my test again i wouldn't pass, after 12 years of driving, obviously going to pick up bad habits! I had been driving around a little over here, but the roads completely freak me out. A shared left lane between both sides of the road to move into, turning right on red is the normal, and the cars are huge! Theres' very few single lanes here, so its all wider! Anyway, when it came to my test. The woman i had was treating me like i had never driven before.. granted my parallel park was awful.. but she did not do my confidence any good! Needless to say she failed me! I was distraught! What made me laugh was even though i failed, you still get to drive yourself home after! So i got on the phone to dave, cried my eyes out, and then plucked up the courage and booked another test with the person dave had the previous week.. and booked it for friday!! ..Oh yea.. on top of all this... for the test i wasn't allowed to drive our new car as i wasn't insured.. so twice we had to pay for a hire car!!

Thursday night about 11pm, Ollie decides to be sick.. all night long.. Thankfully dave can work from home, so i didn't need to cancel the test or the hire car. But the weather was awful! It was foggy and raining cats and dogs! With no sleep and horrible conditions on the road.. it felt like i had no chance! The instructor was much nicer, a lot more relaxed and even told me i was better than dave.. :D He passed me and all of a sudden the weight lifted from my shoulders! So then had to return to the Secretary of State office and get my license!!
All in all a long and hard process but we are sorted. We have got everything in order, and have even started the process to bring the dog over!

The weekend we went exploring and found some lovely walks. Sunday night i came down with the tummy bug and now Dave has it! Crossing fingers Lucas won't get it, but highly doubtful!

We are getting sorted with the house and routines. We have found a really nice area to take the kids for swimming and other sports activities. Dave has signed himself up for football...soccer..whatever!
Bump is coming along, 32 weeks this week! It certainly didn't appreciate me being sick! Made me miss being around my normal surroundings when i was poorly though!

Aside from the sickness, we are all good. The boys only have a week off, so going to venture out to see what is around! Might even buy a english easter egg that they are selling for $15!

Ta ra
xx