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

Bank Holiday Weekend

What a great 3-day weekend our little family had! Saturday was a gorgeous warm day here so we finally got around to putting together Mark's new barbecue and had his brother, my sister in law Rachel and Max and Holly over for our first barbecue. I know it doesn't sound THAT exciting but it is so great to finally have a back yard (with grass!) where we can do these sort of things after living in the concrete jungle that is London for the previous two summers that I've been here in the U.K. I'm also pretty excited about the new barbecue as it takes a little pressure off of me from having to make dinner every night. So far I've managed to cook about twice a week, supplementing our dinners with pre-made meals from this place called Cook that makes chef prepared meals for two that can be put in the freezer and cooked in either the oven or microwave. They are a God-send!

On Sunday we took Calum up to London for the first time to meet our friends Rachel and John and their 18-month old son Oliver who is the cutest little boy ever. Calum got to take the train for the very first time and we had the nicest lunch on the Thames and I even treated myself to not one but TWO glasses of wine! The train ride back wasn't so great though-it was super warm and we were on the train with loads of football fans who had just left a match so it was super crammed and hot which had me worrying a little about the baby. All was fine though and for the first time since we had Calum I felt like I was living the life I had pre-baby. Don't get me wrong, being a Mom is amazing but it was so nice to chat with friends about something other then the baby (although we did talk a lot about babies, too!) and to get further then a 5-mile radius from our house.

Monday we headed back up to London to visit Mark's Dad's grave with Calum and go to one of our favourite restaurants. It was such a treat to spend the day together as a family and to have Mark for an extra day this weekend, I only wish every weekend was a 3-day weekend. Hope you all had a great Memorial Day x

Mark with the pram in front of the Thames

Calum asleep on the train-his first ever train ride!

Sleeping after the barbecue

Having a little nap in our bed

Sleeping beauty....

Okay, so I've totally turned into one of those Moms that takes a million pictures of their kid but I guess with all of this time on my hands during the day I've got to find SOMETHING to do! It seems like almost all of the pictures we've taken of Calum are when he's sleeping, it's just that he is SO cute when he's asleep-I could just eat him up. One of my favourite times with him is in the morning when he wakes up or when I wake him from his naps (yes, he's such a sleeper that sometimes I have to wake him from a nap for a feed). First he makes a series of really cute faces and then he makes these funny grunt noises while he stretches out, he looks like a little troll!

This was week two of being at home together and we've managed to really settle into a routine. Here in the UK there is a childcare author called Gina Ford who a lot of people swear by that really advocates getting babies into routines. There are a series of different routines depending on what age your baby is, we've started on the 2 to 4 week old baby routine which allows for 5 hours of sleep for Calum during the day and sees him going to bed at 7 and waking at 7 with one or two feeds in the night with the ultimate goal of him sleeping through the night without needing a feed. So far so good, I'm managing to get almost 7 hours of sleep most nights and catch up on any missed sleep when he sleeps from 11.30-2 in the afternoons.

Today Calum is 4 weeks old and this weekend we're going to attempt some firsts which include going up to London to meet some friends for lunch and possibly giving him a bottle of formula when we do as I'm not ready to breast feed in public as of yet... Yesterday we went to regular weekly weigh in and Calum came in at 10 lbs 5 oz which is still just above the 50th percentile for his age. On Wednesday we went back to the hospital to the jaundice clinic where they took more bloods (we get the results this week) and sent us home to collect a urine sample (good luck with a 4 week old baby!) which we have to take back in for testing. The doctor seemed to think he was looking pretty healthy, but better to be safe then sorry.

Hope you all have a great 3-day weekend. Here in the UK we don't celebrate Memorial Day but we also have a 3-day weekend and the weather is supposed to be amazing so we can finally break out Mark's new barbecue x

Yes, we've given in and given him the "dummy" (pacifier)

Growing like a weed....

Our little Calum is growing like a weed and it's breaking my heart! Tomorrow he will unbelievably already be 3 weeks old and I just can't figure out where time has gone. Getting him dressed over the past two days he's already starting to outgrow some of his newborn clothes and fit into the 0-3 month size.

Today I took Calum down the road to the Willows Clinic which is where his health care visitor is based (this is his own designated nurse who will be with him until he reaches school age). They run a clinic there Tuesdays and Thursdays for babies and we are supposed to take him there every week for the next month or two to have him weighed. We can also discuss any issues or concerns we have with our nurse and it's a chance to meet other Mums. In a couple of weeks I will also join a local group of Mums who have babies of similar age to Calum which will hopefully help with some of the isolation I've been feeling and allow me to make new friends with similar interests (babies!). Calum weighed in at 9lbs 8oz, up from 8 lbs 11 oz last Thursday which means he's eating well and plotting at just about the 50th percentile for his age group. I couldn't believe the size of some of the babies being weighed in at the clinic, I guess I've just gotten so used to Calum's size as these babies seemed like giants!

Unfortunately the health care visitor thought Calum was still looking a little jaundiced so we've been sent back to the hospital for an appointment next Wednesday at the Jaundice Clinic. They couldn't really tell me what that would entail other then more blood tests to check his bilirubin levels. I hope and pray he doesn't have to be admitted back into the hospital.

After the clinic I walked all the way into town (about 10 minutes from here) and went to a coffee shop which sounds silly but was the furthest I've walked so far since the C-section and was such a treat. Whilst there I noticed some other Mums having coffee with young babies and while I wish everyday I could be doing the same with my friends in America, I have to say I didn't wish I was with these Mums as they were talking in baby talk and doing my head in! Anyway, it was a great feeling to get out of the house and to get a little freedom and tomorrow I've already spotted a local park I'm going to check out. How exciting my life has become ;)!

Hope you all have a great weekend, we're going to put together Mark's new barbecue and catch up with the Verghese clan. I'm also going to try and sneak a nap or two since Mark will be at home to help watch the little munchkin. Enjoy x

Calum swaddled in his crib-how tiny does he look?!

Crashed out like usual!