Weekly Shatter Chatter

Get it? Shatter?

I started this blog back in '03 (whoa.....) as a sort of narcisstic public journal. I later moved to Scotland and used it as a way to keep my family back in the States up-to-date with my life. Then it became about pregnancy and motherhood and then... it stopped. I've only recently picked it back up with an aim for writing more creatively and introspectively (ding ding, narcissism strikes again!) but also feel my old folks back home might still want a bit of McFarlane-family catch-up. So this is for them. You're welcome, Maw.

This week has been a busy one for us. After the ease of the Christmas holidays, I think we felt a bit of a jolt with everything starting back full force this week.

Monday morning was the kids' first day back at school. Getting out of bed was a feat. Luckily getting the children out the door was my only goal for the day, and we succeeded. I spent the morning wandering through the town with my good friend Laura, and after nursery, she and her two youngest kids came back to our house for lunch and a play.

Tuesday we woke up bright and early to head to Edinburgh. I was imagining another nice long lie-in until Scott and I started thinking through the logistics and realised we'd have to leave super early to beat rush hour traffic in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. We had appointments booked for 11am at the US Embassy to get the children *officially* registered as US citizens.

Because they were born to at least one US citizen parent (who had established domicile in the US), the kids are all entitled to US citizenship. Here in the UK we are happy to call it 'dual citizenship', because the UK recognises it, but the US does not. So as far as it's considered here, my kids are both UK and US citizens; the US sees them as belonging only to them. Anyway, so to actually officially claim that entitlement, we had to file paperwork with the Embassy and attend an interview. This can be done anytime before they are 18, but for some reason, the website says to get a Social Security number, they have to register before the age of 5. Fifi has actually been 5 for almost a whole year, and Lolly will be 5 next year, so we decided it was time to hurry up and get this taken care of.

So we spent the morning in a cramped little waiting room with a dozen other people, registering our three children's 'Consular Report of Birth Abroad', their US passports, and their Social Security number applications. (I will at some point in the near future devote a whole post to this process, which will hopefully be useful for people searching the 'net for information on this process.) It was quite efficient, actually, and we were out of their even earlier than I expected to be.

Since we were already in the neighbourhood, we had lunch at Judith and Craig's house. Judith is an amazing cook, so we've discovered, and she treated us to Greek-style burgers, a Greek salad, fried halloumi and pitta bread, followed by butterfly fairy cakes. It was delicious, and we enjoyed having another wee visit with them. All our kids had fun together too.

The kids were back to school and nursery on Wednesday, and Jaguar and I spent the afternoon at the hospital getting yet another kidney scan. He was diagnosed with a dilated kidney pre-birth, and they have been keeping an eye on it with scans since he was born. There has been no change, as in, the kidney is still dilated, so I will be arranging a visit with his pediatrician soon to discuss the situation. Doing my best to act positively, even though inwardly I'm wringing my hands and worrying myself silly.

Thursday morning was my first TinyTalk class since going on maternity leave, and it was great. I had a great wee group of mums and babies attend, and it reminded me how much I love baby signing. Thursday afternoon we were back at the doctor's with Jaguar again, this time to check up on his cough. He had bronchiolitis, and the GP wanted to have him back in to check up on his recuperation. Thankfully, the infection has cleared from his chest, his lungs are clear, and the cold is now just in his throat. He looks absolutely miserable, and when he coughs I stop breathing with him until he sucks back in that big gasp of air, but Doc says he's on the recovery side.

This morning, Friday, was my other TinyTalk class, and it too was a success. I love my Friday mums - so many loyal, returning families with whom I've become great friends outside the class, and today there were a few new faces too.

Also today... my little boy turns a whole six months old. I can hardly believe that exactly half a year ago already I was standing outside the Inverclyde Royal Hospital with amniotic fluid trickling down my legs, waiting for Scott to hurry and park the car so we could hurry up and go back home for a homebirth that ended up a blue-light trip to Paisley hospital! Half a year ago yesterday, Jaguar was still in my belly. Half a year ago today, he was out. Incredible.

Tomorrow we have nothing planned, except in some alternate fantasy world I think I might start tackling that whole Simplicity concept but realistically will sleep in until 11 and lounge around in pjs all day. Sunday Fifi has her first Sound of Music rehearsal, and I, if I can garner the motivation, am going to go for a jog with my friend Cheryl's jogging group.