Aloha Baby Makena!

Just wanted to wish my friend Keri and her husband Greg a belated congratulations on welcoming a beautiful baby girl into the world. Makena Catherine Devine was born last Tuesday, June 23rd at 4:47 p.m. I know Keri and Greg have been very excited about starting their family and from what I hear, Keri was an absolute trooper when it came down to the birth which is no surprise.

As I mentioned before, of the four bridesmaids at my wedding three of them are having babies or have had babies within months of Calum. Ashley had Westyn Marie on March 18th and Tara is due to give birth to Jackson in August. Auntie Dett (my fourth bridesmaid) is going to be busy helping us take care of all of these little ones! It's amazing to me that somehow we all managed to have babies who are going to be within 5 months of each other and quite a blessing for little Calum to have built in friends when we come back to Seattle & LA for visits.

Huge congrats, Keri & Greg and welcome to the world of being parents. I have to honestly say that I've never had a more fulfilling role in my life and that being a Mom (or Mum!) has made me feel so complete. Mark and I love each other in a whole new way and having a baby in your life will change how you view absolutely everything and who you are as a person. We love you!

Mark's birthday and Father's Day

Sunday the 21st was not only Mark's 34th birthday but also his first Father's Day.... The day started off great because the night before Calum *almost* managed to sleep through the night, not waking me until 5.30 for a feed which was fantastic (of course he hasn't repeated this since!)! Mark told me no one had ever made him a birthday cake before so I woke up early and made his favourite, carrot cake. Mark is notoriously difficult to buy for so I was pleased with the presents I got this year-a series of professional photos of Calum framed and an overnight stay in a nice hotel with his brother and a round of golf the next day.

We went to a lovely lunch in London with Mark's family at his favourite Indian restaurant which was almost perfect bar the fact that he got in a fender bender in the parking lot! The day capped off a lovely weekend (on Saturday Mark's brother and sister in law watched Calum so we could go see Transformers 2 which Mark was dying to see, a birthday present from me to him in itself as I've now had to see two geeky boy movies in a row!) and has left me thinking already about what I'm doing to do for him next year as he will be the big 3-5 and I will be 30! Maybe we might even be able to have an "adult" party and go out like we did last year!

Yesterday I had my 8-week follow up at the doctor and have been given the all clear to start exercise again-yay! Later in the afternoon I had to bring Calum to get his first shots (here they are strictly called immunisations, when I call them shots people look shocked!). He was a little trooper, I think compared to having an IV in hospital and having had his blood taken numerous times this was nothing. Today I'm off to my first post natal group meeting which I'm really looking forward to. I've been dying to meet other local Mums and this first two hour session of five should be a great way to meet new friends and learn about how to be a better Mom.

More soon, have a great week x

My favourite pic from the shoot

3 years.....

After two pain staking weeks without the Internet my lovely husband has just reconnected me to the outside world (AKA what's going on in America!) and I've finally been able to log in and post on the blog. When I looked at the calendar here in our office I realised that my 3 year anniversary is tomorrow and I have to say I'm amazed. Three years ago I left behind my amazing group of girlfriends (and their fantastic husbands) and my family to take a big chance on love and personal growth to come to live in London. Three years ago tonight my best friends and I sat around at Ashley's house drinking champagne and toasting the changes that were to come and while I have to say I'm incredibly happy that I made the move, there hasn't been a day that's gone by that I don't think about the girls I left behind in Seattle (and CA!) and my Mom and Dad.

A lot has happened in 3 years-I had the opportunity to climb the career ladder and moved into management at work, I moved in with Mark, got engaged and had the wedding of a lifetime in Italy and of course our most recent development, I had a gorgeous little baby boy. How fortunate have I been? All of this and you think that being away from home would get easier but with the latest addition to our lives I have to say that lately things have seemed a lot harder. I'm so sad that I don't get to meet my friend's babies until our trip to Seattle in October (4th-17th!!!) and even more sad that Calum's grandparents haven't been able to meet him yet and won't get to be part of his early months of life. I suppose in life we all have to make tough decisions but more and more I've been getting homesick and wondering just how much longer I want to stay here in the U.K.

On a lighter note, Calum has been my saving grace and the sunshine in my life when I've been missing home. I swear every time I look at him he looks different, he really seems to be changing a lot in appearance and day by day becoming a little person that we can actually start to interact more with. Mark said tonight he seems to be looking more like me although it's still hard to say. Yesterday we went to the baby clinic and Calum is weighing in at a very healthy 13lbs 1oz and today marks week 8 which is amazing in itself. He's smiling lots now and even giving tiny little laughs which make my heart melt.

Anyway, to all of you reading this-I love you and miss you and think about each one of you every single day and am so pleased with the changes in your lives and that even after 3 years we still all manage to keep in touch whether it's a read of the blog or a phone call here and there. Have a great weekend and a very Happy Father's Day x

Freedom!

The past few days have been ones of new found freedom for me and when I say new found I mean as free as you can be when you have a 5 week old baby.......

On Saturday I got to have some me time and went to get my hair done since I hadn't had it done since pre-Calum. What a treat to have 3 hours to myself to read the gossip mags! I even told my hair girl I probably wouldn't be too chatty as I was going to cherish it all to myself! Saturday night Mark and I went on our first real date since Calum was born. Mark's Mum has been encouraging us to go out and agreed to watch Calum on Saturday night so Mark and I could go to dinner and a movie. Pre-Calum we had seen lots of my picks (like He's Just Not That Into You, Marley and Me and etc.) so I owed Mark this time and VERY reluctantly agreed to see the Star Trek movie. I hate Star Trek, all of my life I've made a point not to watch a single episode but I have to say, the movie wasn't so bad! Afterwards we went out to a Thai dinner and I treated myself to a Tiger beer, it was great.

Yesterday I had an even bigger taste of freedom when I broke the rules and drove for the first time in 5 and a half weeks so I could take Calum to go get registered (here in the UK you have to register your child as a UK citizen in order to get your birth certificate and we need that certificate ASAP so we can get Calum's passport for our upcoming trips to Portugal and America). I was a little nervous to drive again (when you have a C-section they say you shouldn't drive for 6 weeks as the movements you make whilst driving can damage the internal scarring), especially with Calum in the back and sure enough he screamed and cried the whole way to our appointment! Of course he turned into a little angel afterwards when we went out shopping and he was in his Baby Bjorn which automatically puts him to sleep.

Anyway, things are so much better now that I can drive-today when I woke up I had a tiny feeling of excitement realising that I could actually get out with Calum and enjoy the 81+ degree day we're supposed to have.

As for an update on our little munchkin, he's still growing like a weed... Last Thursday when I had him weighed he was 10 lbs 15 oz so we're certain to have broken the 11 lbs mark when we go to the clinic again this Thursday. Calum has become much more aware of the things around him and has been looking very intently at people's faces, especially Mom and Dad's. While he's still not sleeping through the night, he has settled nicely into a bedtime routine which sees me only having to feed him once in the night around 3 a.m. and where he wakes at around 7 so I'm still managing to get about 7 hours of sleep a night which is fantastic. Everyday I fall in love with him a little bit more but am still sad to see how quick he's growing. Having been out with him over the past few days it's amazing how much attention babies attract-I feel like I'm out with a little rock star! Hope you enjoy his latest pics x