Today was a long but pretty productive day. First thing this morning Travis and Jocelyn (who is a TROOPER--she just ran a half marathon two days before coming over here and has pulled muscles and also a bad cold, but she has been hauling stuff all over the place for us!!) went back to Heathrow to get the rest of our luggage. That took about three hours. After they got back we went downtown to pick up a power cord for the computer and also some paperwork from a company Travis found that helps you out with arranging things when you move here--setting up bank accounts, etc. (I suppose it is not technically called "downtown", but my sense of which area is called by which name is still pretty foggy. I think it was Oxford Street, but that's a long street and I am not entirely sure where we were on it.)

Oh, we also went to what must be one of the world's most upscale McDonald's (not surprising since it is just off Leicester Square, tourist central). It's all done in cream colours and dark wood, and the workers are all dressed to the nines (well, for McDonalds--the girls, for instance, wear dark skirts and tights and button-down shirts). Travis said after going to the washroom "this is the only place I've been to that has managed to make a urinal trough look classy". So. There you go. Surely that is the ultimate test of any fine dining establishment...

From running errends we went to IKEA, which was a long and laborious process but worth it since we now have a) linens and blankets b) plates and cups c) towels. In order to get there we had to make a couple of different tube connections, then connect to an above-ground train (called, with great heights of originality, the London Overground), and THEN catch a shuttle which took you to the IKEA store itself. The store is really close to Wembley stadium, which is where some of the professional soccer clubs play (right? Samantha? help me out--is it just Arsenal that plays here? clearly I don't actually know). It was super cool to see, even though I am not much of a soccer fan (though I feel that I could be). The stadium has a really great skyline, anyway, I will say that much for it. I will try to find a picture.

We didn't get home till, oh, about 8.30. In retrospect I can't even believe that Emrys did as good as he did. At one point it seemed like he was going to freak out, but we got him calmed down, and overall he was a super baby today. Slept most of the time except for when we were at IKEA, when Trav had him in the carrier facing out, so that he could see--he LOVED looking around, I assume at all the lights and colours.

(Let me mention in an aside that IKEA has surprisingly awesome childcare rooms, with chairs for nursing in and DIAPER VENDING MACHINES on the walls. I was impressed.)

Emrys is still congested and I am feeling so bad for him hearing him snort and wheeze. We even went and got some Vicks rub this evening, but the small print said not to use for babies under 6 months, so I am now officially at my wits end. We are still giving him saline drops occasionally, but I don't know what to do other than that. As far as I know there aren't many options. I really really hope it will clear up quickly on its own. On the upside though his fever hasn't come back, so that's a relief (massive understatement).

Finally, here are some cute pictures I took today when I tried on the sailor suit that Samantha knit for him. It won't fit him for long but it doesn't even matter--look how cute it is!! Painfully so. Obviously I am biased, but still...

Handsome little sailor man!!

Showing off the bib at the back...

Dancing boy!

Mr. Serious for the camera...

All for now. Love,

Becky