The Spirit of Britannia

Today I wanted to be British.

Maybe it was all the waving Union Jacks or the tolling bells at Westminster.


Maybe it was because I remembered that six years ago today, I was in Britain and loving it.Maybe it's because I just finished David Copperfield again. I read that last page and just sat there, stunned and in awe.

Maybe it's because I get the same feeling when I listen to Dark Side of the Moon from beginning to end.

Or because we end each day watching a segment of Pride and Prejudice before bed.


Maybe it's from my recent annual viewing of Simon Shama's A History of Britain. I was doing my ironing while finishing the last episode (is my nerdiness overwhelming you? If so, please feel free to discontinue reading.) Anyway, I was just finishing the last episode and the camera was panning over the English Channel and I had to stop my chore and just sit down, feeling quite overcome by the weight of such monumental history. (Seriously, if you've read this far, you must have a high nerd tolerance.)

Maybe it's the knowledge that deep down and far back, that history is also my history.

Or maybe it's just all the hats.
Either way, I think the rest of the family is also feeling the pull from the other side of the Pond. In the recent weeks as morning and evening news broadcasts have been taken hostage by the minute details of the royal wedding, Roo would constantly complain indignantly, "Is there anyone who even cares about this stuff?!" Well, at some point between then and now, something--what I like to think of as The Spirit of Britannia--has settled upon Roo, working a mighty change. A few days ago he actually watched one of the many stories about the upcoming wedding and its participants, and since then he's been eager to keep up on all the details. He'd stop what he was doing in order to catch up on the latest news. He even spoke to some friends in England to get their take on the events. When I walked in on him one morning watching the news and getting his daily fill of royal wedding updates, he just looked up and said a guilty, "What?!"

This morning we watched the wedding highlights together and he even went into work a little later than usual so he could watch "the kiss" from the balcony. I love Roo! (He watches lots of hockey and action movies, too. I feel the need to reinforce his masculinity here...) Isn't he so handsome? Imagine him in a top hat!

And even as I was writing this blog post, Esmé was pulling books off the shelf and I looked up to find her flipping through this one. (The History of England Volume II). Seriously, this photo was not staged. She was just trying to get up to speed. Because maybe today, she wants to be a little British, too.

We Miss You Guys!!! (Roo's half-yearly post)

Annie is not at home right now.....

Jek Porkins is dead.....

All we can think to do is help the world understand our pain....

Roo's pain (particularly acute tonight with Annie gone):

Esmé's pain (about 30 minutes after mommy left her tonight):

While Esmé is worried if she will ever see mom again, I am hopeful that Annie will have a better sense of when to eject should the need ever arise. We love you Annie!

Like Father, Like Daughter

Roo circa 1985:

Esmé circa two weeks ago:

Travels

I once walked 20 miles in one day, up mountainsides and through valleys from sunup to sundown. It was exhausting--the most exhausting thing possible, I thought. That was before I tried traveling with a 9 month old. A couple weeks ago we flew to Salt Lake City for a week long vacation with our families in Idaho and Utah, and making the trek with Esmé was like traveling with a herd of cats. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit; however, there's no question that by the time our vacation was finished, I was ready for a vacation.

We flew out on Saturday afternoon. Two hours in the airport and three hours on the plane, about fifty Baby Mum mum snacks, two bottles, many handfuls of puffs, a 20 minute nap, at least thirty times reading "Bobby Bunny", a few minutes of Baby Einstein on the iphone, lots of shrieks and arched backs, and three fellow passengers who were charmed by Esmé's coy smiles by the end of the trip.

After an interminable wait for the rental car and a two and a half hour drive to Inkom, we were so happy to arrive at the Phillips! We were reacquainted with snow as well as our three beloved pets. The dogs wagged their tail-less bums and barked in excitement. Esmé was thrilled by all the pets. She giggled at their wet noses and laughed at loud when they barked. I think the barking reminded her of being in the womb...

We enjoyed our soft beds, plenty of space to play, yummy food and lots of very willing babysitters. Here's baby with Papa Tutu.

And grandma Tutu

Feeding time with Tutu and Aunt Natalee.

Esmé's first trip to Elmer's for breakfast.

A few days later, we packed up and headed down south, stopping on our way to visit family in Salt Lake.

At my parents' house we got to visit with all the cousins, attend cousin Peter's blessing, play at the park, eat more yummy food, and (Roo's favorite part) take our family portrait.

While all the packing up and moving around from place to place to visit everyone took a bit of effort, it was so worth it to see so many people we've missed so much! You know what else was worth it? The utter fatigue from going to bed around 1 am for a few nights in a row after going to late movies. To compensate for months of not seeing any movies, we saw five.

After another crazy plane ride home, we were ready to collapse. But, I guess that's how you know you've had a good vacation--you're worn out from all the good times. We sure do miss our families! And the theater...

This post is by Esmé

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Now this part is by Annie:

Esmé had her 9 month appointment this week. For those of you keeping track, she weighs 16.4 lbs. This puts her in the 15th percentile. Her height of 27 inches is the 42nd percentile. But what she lacks in stature, she makes up for in personality. Her cuteness factor is somewhere around the 8000 billionth percentile.


She's learned to pull herself up and is very eager to walk. Many times she'll just stand against the table and refuse to let herself drop. She'll stubbornly stay there until someone answers her cries and picks her up. While she's waiting to be picked up she likes to hammer on the laptop keyboard with her fists. This is what inspired her to write the message above.


She's very close to saying mama and dada. I think she could count to 100 if she wanted to, but she chooses not to so as to not make all the other babies feel inferior. She LOVES to eat...anything. We have to watch her very carefully these days otherwise she'll end up tipping over the lamp with a mouth full of lint. She is full of life and happiness. We can't imagine loving anything more!

Rooisms

Here are my favorite Roo quotes lately:

"I have brontosaurus feet."

"Everyone knows rhinos are sloppy."

"When I read about the fatted calf I think of you." (He claims that's because he knows I like to eat meat.)

Last night I was going out to a book club meeting, so Roo would have the evening to himself. We had this exchange:

Annie: So, are you going to act like a bachelor tonight?

Roo: Yes. First I'm going to watch all the best scenes from The Fast and Furious movies. Then I'm going to watch all the best scenes from the National Lampoon movies.

Annie: So that won't take very long.

Roo: No it won't. So, then I'm going to watch the Thor trailer online again.

Annie: You're probably really going to do that one, aren't you?

Roo: Yeah I probably will.

Esmé Crawling

There is some speculation that Esmé was actually taught to crawl by someone with a peg leg.

Esmé Crawling from Annie Phillips on Vimeo.