Australia vs. USA

I've now lived 5 months in Canberra, Australia! Using my obviously perfect knowledge of both Australia and the USA (after living in Virginia, Utah, and Texas), here's the first post that will answer the most common question that I get from friends in each country: "What's different there?"

Let's start with what I find to be the most important category: PEEPS

If I had to describe Australians 3 words, they'd be: chill, friendly, and party-on. Americans tend to care a lot more about status and the invisible social hierarchy. We've been treated like equals by people of all statuses here, and while they may ask our opinions on sensitive topics like parenting techniques and religion, they usually refrain from judgment. Perhaps because politicians are universally viewed with disdain and religion is nearly nonexistent here, politics and religion aren't the heated topics that they are in the USA and no one seems bothered by a differing view.

At least here in Canberra, people don't live to work. They get lots of vacation days and they generally use them to travel to a beach or another country. Their job is just their job. There seems to be much less work ambition and enthusiasm than in the states and much more family or party time, depending on their life stage.

Winner: Australians

Photo Credit

Next category: The Beauty of the Land

Photo Credit

Little known fact: Australia is close to the same size as the continental United States, but the population is equal to half of California. At least half of Australia is believed to be unlivable so only the Aboriginals (regarded similarly to the USA's Native Americans) can be found there, living as tribes. Almost all Australians live in one of 6 cities (Canberra, the capital city, similar to Washington D.C., only has 358,000 people and is not one of those cities). Americans have spread everywhere, even areas which I suspect are similar to the 'unlivable' areas of Australia. America has Alaska's glaciers, Virginia's green woods, Florida's beaches and Utah's snowy mountains. Australia has the Great Barrier Reef and...the bush (our woods, but relatively barren)?



Winner: United States





Category: "What'd you say?"

Perhaps the biggest change for us has been the language difference. Sure, both countries speak English, but differently. Most people can quickly guess that I'm American when I speak, and when they try to imitate my accent, they do a harsh, southern drawl. A friend told me that when Americans imitate an Australian accent, it too sounds 'bogan', or 'hick' in American lingo. Accent aside, Australians seems to speak with better grammar and vowels have only the intended sounds (it's neighbor not neighber, etc.).

Word Equivalents:

• flip-flop = thongs  "What nice thongs you're wearing."
• good job = good on you    "Good on you for finishing your broccoli."
• good-bye = cheers (meaning best wishes)
• no problem = she'll be right     
• like = _____     No valley-girls in Australia
• X, Y, Z = X, Y, Zed

Oh, and wherever the saying "put some shrimp on the bbq" came from, it was not Australia. Shrimp are called prawns and they don't put them on the barbecue.

Winner: Australian English

Keep posted for round 2 of the battle!

A Personal Interview with the Savior: 6 Priorities

In 1965, President David O. McKay made the following statement to a group of Church employees: Let me assure you, Brethren (and sisters), that some day you will have a personal priesthood interview with the Savior himself. If you are interested, I will tell you the order in which he will ask you to account for your earthly responsibilities.

First, he will request an accountability report about your relationship with your wife (or husband). Have you actively been engaged in making her(or him) happy and ensuring that her (or his) needs have been met as an individual?

Second, he will want an accountability report about each of your children individually. He will not attempt to have this for simply a family stewardship but will request information about your relationship to each and every child.

Third, he will want to know what you personally have done with the talents you were given in the preexistence.

Fourth, he will want a summary of your activity in your Church assignments. He will not be necessarily interested in what assignments you have had, for in his eyes the home teacher and a mission president are probably equals, but he will request a summary of how you have been of service to your fellow man in your Church assignments.

Fifth, he will have no interest in how you earned your living but if you were honest in all your dealings.

Sixth, he will ask for an accountability on what you have done to contribute in a positive manner to your community, state, country, and the world. 

(Bold words and italics added by me) 

The Big Move

We moved across the world. We left a soon-to-be snowy Utah for hot and sunny Canberra, Australia.

Canberra

Salt Lake City, Utah

               TO







Here's the why: While Chandler was at BYU, a couple of professors at Australia National University reached out to his employer to ask if they knew any students who could code python (computer stuff - not my thing so I can't tell you any more than that). Chandler was the only one who could so they asked him to help with collecting and analyzing data on the NBA. Coincidentally, my husband has a minor major obsession with the Utah Jazz NBA team (as in he tries to watch all 82 of their games each season) and was happy to help. When we moved to Texas the professors asked him to continue his work with them and soon set about to convince him to study under them at ANU. The timing was perfect and we felt inspired to apply. The promised full-ride scholarship and $26,000 annual living stipend helped too.

So now we're here. Chandler is studying for a Finance PhD at ANU in Canberra and I'm planning on looking after our home and 5-month-old Sawyer full time.

Plane Ride

It took 25 hours to get to Canberra. We were nervous about flying with Sawyer, but he suffered the least of us. He slept A LOT and nursed A LOT. We became really jealous of his ability to sleep anywhere, anytime. The only way that Chandler and I made it was to distract ourselves from exhaustion by watching as many new release movies as we could. Between the two of us, we watched Anchorman 2, The 100 Foot Journey, The Planet of the Apes, and The Mazerunner. I feel pretty impressed with that list.

Living Situation

While in Utah, I used the handy dandy internet to get the information for a member of my church who lives here in Canberra, Australia. I'm a Mormon and our church is world-wide. We even get the same lessons taught the same way here as we did at home. I told the member about my family's situation and she contacted other ward/congregation members who were willing to help. Without her and the others who helped us out, we'd be staying in a $100 per night hotel using a rental car and eating out every meal. With one-way plane tickets over 1,000 each, we needed to avoid that set-up.

First we stayed with the Easts in southern Canberra who offered us a room and meals for a low renting price. They are a sweet, loud family who had a crazy snake turtle (head of a snake, body of a turtle) which as a result, I dubbed Snurtle. Chandler, was sick most of the time so we weren't super social, but they brought him medicine and the dad was able to give him a priesthood blessing for healing. When we left, their 10-year-old daughter made us a Christmas tree cake which pulled at my heart strings.

We didn't find a place to rent in that first week so we went to phase II: house-sitting for the Youngs in northern Canberra. They were going out of town for a couple of weeks and offered their home to us which we still can't get over the kindness of. They're our age, but a little ahead in the game of life as they have 2 kids. Their 4-year-old daughter is fascinated with Baby Sawyer and when I nursed she did the same thing with her baby Cinderella doll. They are the only people that I've ever known to leave 5 hours AHEAD of schedule for a trip instead of 5 hours behind, like is our tendency. The location is great because most homes we're interested in are close-by and we love the ward/congregation of our church that they belong to. We're thinking about moving a few streets over to be within walking distance of them and other friends that we've met. We're still here for the next couple of days then are staying with another family that we recently met here.

View from the East's home

Driving Situation

We didn't want to be stuck mooching rides everywhere so on our third day out, we bought a 2001 Toyota Avalon (so glad to be back in an automatic). Chandler, my finance man, made a weighted Excel doc to weigh the pros and cons of each car we were interested in. I'm still making fun of him for this, but it did work. When we went to the car lot, the top of the list Avalon was being test driven by a guy for the 4th time and he committed to buy it the next day. When we told the dealer that we had planned on looking at it, he cut the price by $400 and we were sold. We guess that he didn't like the other guy very much.

Since then we've taken the hands-on approach to driving on the opposite side of the road. It's not too hard to remember to keep left instead of right, but what is hard is driving from the opposite side of the car. Not only do I regularly call attention to myself by getting in the wrong side of the car, but we both have a tendency to hug the left side of the road when driving. We are both looking forward to the day when our driving isn't ruled by our GPS which consistently alerts us to turns after the fact. Thankfully, traffic here wouldn't scare a 16-year-old (but then, what would?).

Sawyer's Adjustment

Isn't he the cutest thing that you've ever seen?! 

We keep getting questions about how Sawyer is adjusting to the big change, but honestly, there was nothing for him to adjust. He never slept well at night and has always been an inconsistent eater. He stirs a lot at night and makes all sorts of noises which wake me up, and he recently decided that he needs an hour-long play time at 3am. Out of desperation, we started trying something new which has been a game changer.  At night we move him down the hall to a room where him fussing won't wake us up. I set my phone for every 3 hours (how often he usually goes between nurses, day and night) and when it goes off, I go and feed him. When I sneak in, he's always either sleeping or playing and goes back to sleep relatively easy. It's made both days and nights easier which makes us very, very happy.




The Next Week - Hello 2015


Chandler starts work tomorrow, then school in 2 weeks. We're hoping to find a place asap and get settled in before he starts school. We're hoping for a 3 bedroom townhouse or house - one room for Chan and me, one for Sawyer, and one for either guests who will probably stay for at least a week at a time or for the second addition to our family who will probably make an appearance in the 2-4 year minimum that we're here for. Decent places run for $350 per week or $1510 per month in Australian dollars (approx, $1240 in USD). Homes here aren't quite as spacious as in the US, but they're nice and more modern which is a fair trade off in my mind. I think my level of excitement to create a homey, yet modern home is of the freakishly high caliber. Pinterest, here I come.

So now you're all updated on our big move to Australia. I'll continue to post, maybe weekly, to share stories and updates. If you'd like to chat, add me on Skype which provides free calls, or use Facebook. My Skype name is Brittanyphelps4.

Ta-Ta for now.

7 ways to Save Money with a Newborn

1. Sound Machine
Relax Melodies is a free sound machine I downloaded onto my iPad. It has dozens of different sounds in HD to help me and baby sleep negating my need for a pricey sound machine. Baby Sawyer likes noise (I didn't see that one coming) so I play it during sleep time and just to calm him down - like when I'm 4 days overdue for a shower. Sometimes after nursing in the night I struggle to go back to sleep, but now I just focus on the calming sounds this app creates, and I'm back to la-la-land. I can play white noise, outdoor sounds, piano music, etc. and mix them however I want. I usually create a thunderstorm and place my IPad near the window so I can trick myself into believing it's real.


2. Baby Monitor 
iSitter is a free baby monitor that I downloaded onto 2 smart devices. It has HD sound that is so clear that I can clearly hear the bedroom clock ticking. It also takes pictures every few seconds so I can check on him without checking on him. I set my iPad up by Sawyer, then select 'parent's side' on my iPhone and voila! That's my static-free baby monitor.

3. Cheap diapers.
This saves us $20 each month ($240 in a year). I just did the math and here is how the prices compare using the cheapest price that I could find for each (links provided) and a formula to accurately compare the price:

We have used about 7 diapers a day since he was born. 1 month at 7 diapers a day = 210 diapers.

price (divided by) #diapers x 210 = price for 210 size 1 diapers

Pampers Swaddlers: $46.70
Huggies Little Snugglers: $45.90
Up & Up (Target): $31.90
Luv's: $27.50
Parent's Choice (Wal-Mart): $26.20

$20.50 per month in savings when we go with the cheapest brand. 7 a day is a little low for a lot of babies at this age, so the savings could be even greater.


We've tried each of the above diapers. Our favorite were the top two, no surprise there, but the best value for us is in Up & Up. The only one of the five that struggled with Sawyer's poo explosions (and they are EXPLOSIONS) is Luv's,but they have the best leak-guard and are the biggest diaper.Parent's Choice worked fine, but is a slightly smaller and lower quality diaper than Up & Up.


We debated a little about whether to go with the cheaper or more expensive brands. We figure that we change Sawyer around every 3-4 hours, even throughout the night, which doesn't give him time to leak in even the cheap ones. If we had the more expensive ones, we may rationalize procrastinating a diaper change to save some cents and we figure a frequent, no-guilt change is healthiest for his little baby bum.

Another option is to buy a small pack of nicer diapers for longer periods between diaper changes, like during the night.

4. Use Craigslist and KSL to buy baby items
We got a co-sleeper, a bassinet, a pack of diapers (a free-add in), a baby bouncer, and a car seat for a total of $45. Low cost was a priority for us since we're moving to Australia in a month and didn't want to pay a fortune for temporary items. The items we got were in such impressive condition for such a good price that we now plan to do the same thing for our longer term items.

Our bassinet - in perfect condition and you can't deny that it's precious!

5. Pacifier clip ($3)
I was skeptical of this, but after seeing one for cheap, I caved and now I'd never go back. This is a budget saver because now we never have to replace a pacifier. Since we got them, we've gone from struggling to keep track of 3 pacifiers to using only one. It saves us the cost of replacing lost pacifiers and Sawyer loves playing with the clip. I had to adapt my clips since I bought the wrong kind, but they work great now. Here's how I did it.

Thank you Grammy!

6. Home-made crocheted blanket
Sawyer is thrilled with this blanket. It became his first toy when he learned that he could thread his fingers through the holes and pull it up to his mouth. I like using it as his swaddle blanket as it's flexible and I don't have to worry about it covering his face as his blankets inevitably do (is he alone in loving his head to be burrowed in whatever is around? Blankets, armpits, etc.). Instead of paying for a premade blanket, all this costs is the price of yarn.


7. Go without the Changing Table
Changing table? Psh. I change his diapers on our bed. If he's gotten his clothes dirty, I put a towel under him. He rarely creates a fire hose, so the bed stays clean. The bed is also where we play with him a lot so I guess it's become a happy place for him. The result? A baby who loves his diaper changes. Chandler and I have actually fought over who got to do the diaper change because of Sawyer's cute chatter once the breeze hits. We think he's a nudist at heart.

Any more money saving tips? Add them in the comments!

Air New Zealand's Hobbit Themed Safety Video

There has never been a more memorable way to teach safety.

If New Zealand is this awesome, then their next door neighbor Australia must be too, right?! Okay, maybe my logic is flawed, but this video is too epic not to post.

2 a.m. Clean-up

Sawyer is not a messy baby.

His diapers do a good job containing whatever he sends their way, even the cheap brands.
He does not spit up often and when he does, it's in small amounts.
He has only minor amounts of drool.
He can stay in an outfit for a couple days without soiling it.

However, last night, he was the messiest.

It's 2 am and he's fussing after a feeding. My husband, Chandler, and I are both awake and I take Sawyer back to bed with me for some hopefully soothing snuggles. Chandler plays a little with Sawyer, holding his hand and smiling at him.

Precious, right?

When Sawyer turns to me, I prepare to do the same thing when I'm interrupted by a...

volcanic eruption of vomit to my face. It seems like it goes on forever, it won't stop! It's in my hair, my eyes, on my shirt, and let's not even mention the state of my pillow. When the eruption finally ceases, I look though my now throw-up covered eyelashes to see a smiling little boy without a drop on him. It was like he had no idea that anything had just happened.

Who could stay mad at this?

Chandler, on the other hand, was very aware of what had just happened and laughed at me. He laughed at me, poor, puke-faced me who had just wanted to comfort my baby. He had the good sense to apologize for his laughter, but by that point I had accepted the bizarre reality of the situation and was laughing too.

Moral of the story: Babies are gross. But in a contradictory way, nothing could ever be cuter.

Sitting on the Bench: Thoughts on Suicide Prevention

Sitting on the Bench: Thoughts on Suicide Prevention

I have never been close with someone who committed suicide, but I have been good friends with a couple girls who have tried. It surprised me to learn it both times - I would have had no idea had they not said something to me about it. They taught me that as well as I may think that I know a person, I may never really understand their history or their struggles. Everyone has a unique story. Including me. Including you. 

To be honest, I wasn't inspired by this video in the way I thought I would be, but I agree with the message. The main thing that we can do for those that suffer with depression, is to simply be there for them. Just like the brother in this video who rarely said a word, but took a week off of work and sat at his brother's bedside, we don't always have to have the right words, or any. We can convey love to that person that won't fade no matter what they do, and maybe, just maybe, they'll begin to feel safe enough to share their feelings with us. As Elder Oaks said, “There is nothing more powerful than the arm of love that can be put around those who are struggling.” 

                               

That's exactly what they need, an arm of love. Not judgment. I hear judgment on and pity for the eternal state of those who have committed suicide frequently. This is not okay. We don't know enough to make any judgment. As suggested, leave judgment to God. All of it! There is no way that we can completely understand what someone else is going through, especially those with a struggle like severe depression. I mean, I hardly understand myself sometimes! 

Although I don't know exactly what will happen to these individuals after death, one thing that I firmly believe that will happen to us all when we pass from this life, whether we die from old age, physical disease, or mental illness, is that we will meet a merciful God. He loves ALL of us and wants us each to be happy - both during our life and after.