Favorite People. Not So Favorite Prices.

SECOND COUSINS MEET IN ENGLAND!
Who knew when we came to England, we would meet Ryan's long lost second cousin Sister Watson!!! (second cousin once removed for the girls) She is serving a mission in England and is Ryan's Mom's cousins daughter. We have enjoyed getting to know her over these past few months!! She has been a great missionary! What a small Mormon world! :) (Sister Watson is on the left and her companion, Sister Burton, is on the right)


PETROL PRICES
I love listening to the news and hearing how crazy the gas prices are in the US. Check this out. We pay 95.9 pence a LITER!!! There are 4 liters in a gallon. That means we pay 3.8 pounds a gallon, and since the pound is stronger than the dollar by almost 2 to 1, we pay $7.67 a gallon!!!


FUTURE SONS-IN-LAW
We have some really great friends named the Bunes's. They have 4 boys!! Since the chances are that we will have another girl, we have decided to pre-arrange their marriages. This makes it easy for family reunions. Of course the Bunes's will have to move to America. We haven't talked with them about this yet.


ENGLISH PAYPHONES
English payphones.....goodness, gracious! I wish they would put them by Petrol/Gas stations! Usually they are out in the middle of nowhere! I have learned from personal experience that you can't find them when you need them.


GINGER HAIR
Do you think she'll have red hair? I see tints of it here and there. In England they call it "ginger" hair.


BRILLIANT BURGESS HILL TOUR
We took a little tour through Burgess Hill to show you the town we live in, and show you how well Ryan drives on the left hand side of the road. (pretty scary!:)

Burgess Hill Tour

Tori's Blessing & Lessons Learned

Today Ryan blessed Tori. She looked so adorable in her blessing dress that her Aunt Andrea made. Here are a few pictures of her special day.


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I was writing the story of Tori's birth and it just seemed too gruesome to put on my webpage so I decided to write a couple of pointers for anyone that is thinking about having a baby.

Lessons learned from Tori's birth:

#1. Have an epidural!

I kid you not! I have had 2 children with epidurals and 1 without (Tori) and all I can say is WHAT WAS I THINKING? Modern medicine is sent from above. How do women do it! I really admire anyone who chooses to do it without. When I was talking to Ryan about it, he said something that I think I'll adopt. “Why be a martyr?” Even though my recovery was amazingly quick with Tori, I think I would have rather had a couple days of slow recovery. Trust me, it's worth it.

#2 Birthing pools help you to relax until the pain hits!!!

Birthing pools are nice and I actually had a water birth! It wasn't expected. They asked me if I wanted to get into the pool to relax and I thought that sounded nice. And it was. Before I started to actually push, I was falling asleep between contractions. But when the pain hits, there is nothing like it! In the pool or out, it's all the same. OUCH!

When she was born, she was just floating at the bottom. They asked me if I wanted to pick her up so I did. She was all slimy and had varnex all over her and she wasn't breathing until Ryan cut the cord. It was different than I expected it to be but it was cool to say I had a water birth. It still doesn't take away the pain.

#3 Have a baby in the US.

I'm just a wimpy American! Not that having a child is the most pleasurable experience, but in England it is totally different. Yes the heath care is socialized, which is nice because it is free. But because it is run by the government, there really isn't any patient satisfaction level that they are trying to meet and you have to bring many supplies that are provided for you in the states. First of all, I was asked what I was going to give birth in. Luckily, I had been prepped by friends and told that they don't provide gowns here. But because I had a water birth, I didn't use a gown. (I know you were all dying to know that bit of info!)

When Tori was born, the Midwives (there are no OBGYN's.. just midwives) didn't bathe her at all or suction out her lungs. She seemed to be coughing up stuff all night. They weighed her but they didn't measure her. They didn't have a diaper for her or anything to put on. Ryan put on the diaper and put on her outfit. When they say to pack your bags, they literally mean it!

Another crazy thing, I was asked after having Tori, if I wanted to released 6 hours afterwards. If I had heard this in the hospital, I would have said “What? Are you out of your mind? I just had a baby!”. My friends again told me this is normal. At first I was put into a room with 6 beds. I was so tired and wasn't sleeping with everyone around that I asked if I could have a private room. I decided to stay the night but the help was very minimal. When I did ask for something, I felt like I was bothering the nurses and they told me they were “so busy.” I didn't get dinner because I had missed it in the cafeteria but someone did bring me some leftover fish, which I couldn't stomach and didn't take one bite of. I had a friend who brought by some snacks that saved my life. (thank you Carla!)

The phones and TV cost in the hospital. Good thing I didn't use the phone. I almost did but then later found that it cost 1 pound per minute or $2 a minute. I did pay to use the TV. I figured since having Tori was free $5 wouldn't break the bank.

During the night, I wanted some pain medicine but had to go to the nurses station and ask for it. They don't have a nursery for the babies which I missed. I like having the child whisked away and being able to enjoy some uninterrupted sleep. It's rather tiring to have a baby! (especially without an epidural!) Seriously it seems like you are supposed to jump up and be normal again.

All in all, it was quite an experience to have a baby in England! I think I like being pampered like a true American!

English Playgrounds

I haven't written much about England on my blog. So I've decided the last 2 months we have left, I'm going to write all about being here. I want to send videos of us driving on the left side of the road, the strange foods we've encountered (as well as the good) and anything I can think of.

Since I'm a mom, I have noticed how amazing the playgrounds are. I've had to try out some of the equipment because it's so FUN! They have all the old school playground stuff: big slides, merry-go-rounds, teeter totters, excuse me....they call them seesaws....you get the drift. Much of what they have here, you would NEVER see in the states anymore which is sad because the girls love English parks!

English Playgrounds & Grandma's Visit

Click on the picture above to view all the photos and videos.

Mom Broderick been staying with us for 2 weeks now helping me with Tori. I've been so glad she's come! It's been nice to have an extra set of hands around! Newborns take so much work. We have been able to do a couple of fun things while she's been here. We went to Pooh Corner (a small shop) and went to the 100 acre woods where the real Christopher Robin played and grew up. We also got to visit the Pooh Sticks Bridge and throw our own sticks in the water. We went to Eastborne one day and went to the tennis tournament and then played at the beach. Mom has also been able to go up to London a couple of days and see the sights.

Proper Family Pictures

I thought I'd put some (as the English would say) "proper" pictures online. The hospital pictures didn't do us justice.


Proud big sisters!

Our darling Audrey.


This face means "Leave me alone mom! No more pictures!"


Daddy and Tori taking a nap. Does she look like her daddy? She snores like him. :)

Victoria "Tori" Marilyn Broderick

Our little english baby, Victoria Marilyn Broderick was born Thursday, June 14, 2007. She weighed in at a new Broderick record....9.2 lbs!!! All those English goodies went right to Tori's cheeks! Her sisters are very pleased to have Tori around and love to hold her.

June 16, 2007 (Tori's Born)

Click on the pictures above to see the complete album. !

Getting Ready for Baby #3

Big belly! Ready to burst! Just waiting for the baby to come. No inducing here in England. No planning for this one. When she comes, she comes!



Baby #1 in the carseat. She's geting a bit big for it!



Baby #2. She forgot her binki for this shot.

Brodericks in England

Mom, Ryan, Katie and Michael in front of Big Ben and the London Eye.



Jolene & Wade in front of Westminister Abby.



We went to Bath and Stonehenge one day with Michael and Katie in the partywagon. Audrey and Mia got a little carsick. Audrey threw up and Mia reacted by dry heaving. It was lovely. In the end, we had a good day traveling together. Here is Ryan by a building in Bath. Isn't he muscular?



Good try guys.