A Lot of Renos

This is the whole Reno clan. In fairness to Charlie (who appears to be the only one not looking at the camera), Abby was also looking away, but Barbara used Adobe Photoshop to insert her head from another picture. Josh was in charge of organizing this picture and I think he did a nice job arranging us. The rest of the trip was great. We even came back feeling rested. When we got back our visas were in the mail. I hope everyone is doing well.

Pre-New Years Resolutions

1. Stay within weight watchers points on most days.

2. Run at least three days a week.

3. Make a dinner/grocery list ahead of time so we don't eat out too much/spend too much money.

4. Don't freak out about moving to London.

5. Try to keep up our "routine" as much as possible in this time of transition.

We will be home tomorrow night. This trip went pretty well. There were some ups and downs, but I think Josh and I have worked out a good system of coping with traveling and Charlie is getting better at going with the flow. I feel more confident about dealing with stressful situations with Charlie (although there is still a plane trip ahead of us so maybe I am speaking too soon).

Galaxy Quest...

I took a half-day of vacation today to go to our biometric data (fingerprinting and photographing) appointment in support of our visa applications. The appointment was at the US Immigration Support Center in downtown Detroit. We arrived, got numbers, sat down and waited to be called. The waiting room was crowded with people from several different nationalities. There was a small tv at the front of the waiting room playing "Galaxy Quest" with a sign on the bottom of the tv saying not to touch it. Josh and I wondered if the choice of movie was intentional or random. I am leaning toward random because when we came out after our appointment was over, it was playing Baby's Day Out. The employees were a little unsure of how to handle our applications and forms because the UK just started requiring biometric data from all people (used to be just certain countries). They are more accustomed to people trying to enter or stay in the US, not leave it.

So we got fingerprinted and photographed and ran to the post office to mail our stuff to Chicago. Don't go to the post office this close to Christmas unless you really have to do it. The line is long and the people are grumpy. Now, the ball is out of our court. Hopefully our applications will go through quickly.

I am really looking foward to our trip to New York. One of our last coming from Michigan!

Randon Thoughts and Updates

So today at the gym, I had to do the unthinkable....run without my ipod. It stopped working after the first half-mile and I couldn't get it to work again I didn't know if I could run 6 miles without peppy music, but I guess I can. I still did ok (55:51).

We are pretty much finished with our visa applications. We have to take our application materials to the visa application center in Detroit and get fingerprinted on Tuesday and then send it to Chicago. It cost me $435 per application ($1305 total)! I don't think we should have to pay for Charlie because he is so little, but I guess it doesn't work that way. At least he doesn't have to be fingerprinted. I am assuming that it would go about as smoothly as his passport picture.

Josh and I are going out on a date tomorrow evening - most likely to a nice dinner and maybe a movie if we have time. We have been really stressed out lately and need to decompress a bit together. Josh got $100 as part of his Innovative Teaching Award for his summer class so we thought we could treat ourselves a little.

I really miss the summer and fall weather. I loved being able to take Charlie to the park and for walks as much as we used to. We all feel a little stir crazy.

Josh is almost halfway done with grading papers for Anthro 101. It will be really nice when he is finished because he can be totally focused on his dissertation. It is starting to seem real that we are leaving. I still can't really grasp it, but I guess I will have to soon.

Charlie is in his crib now, singing to himself, resisting sleep.

Visa Fun

My favorite question on the UK Visa application:

"Have you engaged in any other activity that might indicate that you may not be considered a person of good character"

Do you think I should mention on Charlie's visa application about how he peed on the bathroom rug yesterday the second I took his diaper off before his bath?

Weekend Post

First, running from Saturday:

Distance: 6 Miles
Time: 55:25

It took me a while to get in a rhythm with this run. I don't usually run in the day either so I think that was part of it. I was going to my company Christmas party a few hours after it so I didn't want to push it too much and feel crappy afterwards.

We put up the Christmas tree today and Charlie seems vaguely interested in it. I am really looking forward to going to New York. The final exam for Josh's Anthro101 class is tomorrow and then he just has to finish grading papers. I am hoping that with that over with things will seem a little more relaxed around here. He will be scrambling to finish his draft, but at least he will be able to exclusively focus on it.

I am really excited for the work permit to arrive so we can apply for our visas. I think once we have the visas and the plane tickets, I will have to start thinking that we are really going to London.

Have a great week.

One Step Closer

Josh got an email yesterday from Goldsmiths (University of London) that his work permit has arrived. They are going to mail it to him so we can apply for entry clearance and get our plane tickets. We are really going to do this! It took so long for the permit to go through that I had all of these thoughts of it being denied and us having to stay in Michigan. It feels good, but it is so close it is kind of scary.

"Daddy Go"

So we are on day 4 of mommy and Charlie solo time. So far it hasn't been too bad. His behavior has been good, his sleep could be worse I guess to think of it in a positive light.

Night One: Asleep at 8:30, up at 1:30 asleep at 3:30. We both went back to bed. I had to wake him up to take him to daycare (seems ridiculous to be trying to wake him up after all the effort I put into getting him back to sleep)

Night Two: Asleep at 8:15, up at 3:30 asleep at 5:30. He went back to bed, but at that point I thought I would probably feel worse if I slept for an hour so I just stayed up.

Night Three: Asleep at 7:50, up at 6am!! I was so proud of him.

I have been scrambling to get some things done and other things will have to wait for Josh to get back. I have so much respect for single parents. It is really tough not to have a second person. Matt from my office and his wife invited Charlie and I over for dinner so that will be nice. It gets a little lonely for us.

Josh will probably be equal parts flattered, proud and sad to learn that Charlie's second "phrase" since the momentous "All-Done" was this morning and it was "Daddy Go" while he climbed on our bed. He said it over and over again and then walked all over the apartment I suspect looking for the elusive Daddy. I expect the reunion at the airport tomorrow will be very nice for all three of us.