Just thinking...

I don't have any pictures to share this time.  I just have a lot of thoughts about our new life here in Oxford.  We had a few days of beautiful weather, and it was too good to last.  Today is rainy and cold.  It was the first day that I had the experience of walking EC to school in the pouring rain while pushing A in the stroller covered in his raincover.  It's like the Pope-mobile with that raincover on.  He's encased in plastic with not a drop getting in.  Snug as a bug in a rug!
As the weather changed, so did our spirits.  The kids both have runny noses.  They probably have the small cold that Jones and I had last week.  A has been really miserable lately.  I'm not sure if it is the cold or the fact that he had a shot yesterday that's bothering him.
I had to take A for a shot yesterday before I picked up EC from school.  I arrived at pick-up with a screaming A, and then made the huge parenting mistake of telling EC that she was going to get her shot now.  So, she screamed bloody murder all the way to the Dr's office (which is called Surgery here in the UK)  I sat in the waiting room with 2 howling kids.  A nice Indian woman handed me a lolly for A, and even though I don't usually let him have sugar, I stuck it in his mouth to see if it would mute the noise.  It helped a bit, but EC was still distraught.  The nurse called us back, and EC got her shot, and immediately stopped crying and said, "that didn't hurt at all."  So, I took her to get a milkshake, which has become her reward for surviving shots.  The Jericho cafe doesn't do take-away cups, so we had to sit in the cafe, annoying everyone in there with Archer's howls while EC slurped up her milkshake.  I will admit that in my desperation, I even shoved a lump of sugar in Archer's mouth, but it didn't stop him.  He was having a full-blown fit.  We walked back to the house, and stopped to see a friend who had just moved in to her house down the street.  She was nice enough to give me some benedryl for A.  I took him home and gave him some paracetamol (which I think is the British version of Tylenol) and put him down for a nap.  He slept like a log and had to be awakened for dinner.  Whatever was bothering him seemed to dissipate until this morning.
For the past 2 nights the kids have been bunking up together in A's room because we are having a little trouble with a dead rat in EC's room.  Yes, you read that right.  When we moved in, they told us that they were having trouble with rats in our attic, chewing through the Ethernet cables and knocking the whole block offline.  So, they told us that they were putting rat poison in the crawl space/attic on the side of EC's room, but not to worry, as the rats usually go back to their nests outside the house to die.  Well, a few days ago, we smelled a foul odor coming from EC's room.  We called the maintenance crew to come and investigate.  They crawled into the crawl space and found a rat's nest, but no rat.  The smell continued, so they are sending in the experts today.  I hope they find this rotting creature, and EC can move back to her lovely rat-free room soon.
Jones started his program yesterday.  He had a full day of what they call a "boot camp."  This is not the kind of boot camp a former Marine like Jones is accustomed to, but it was a boot camp for people interested in becoming consultants.  They brought in some people to talk about how the hiring works for consultant companies as well as how to write your resume, etc.  Jones is at boot camp again today, and we are getting used to being on our own around here.