We Are Coming Home

Yesterday I realized that I had been in England too long because I noticed that the local pub's menu had changed! Luckily we heard the good news that UK airports are now open. We are scheduled to fly back on Sunday if not sooner!

Uh oh

Maddie has learned several new skills in England, but this one scares me a bit! Maddie has NOT rolled over from tummy to back and has NOT learned to sit up (I think this is because she constantly wants to move and won't sit still). But has managed to do this!

From Lunch Date

Lunch Date

Yesterday, as it was a beautiful sunny day in England . . .

From Lunch Date

And I needed to leave the house for 2 hours, Maddie & I decided to go to the local pub for a lunch date!

Maddie loved the walk there . . .

From Lunch Date

From Lunch Date

From Lunch Date

Despite having to wait for the pub to start serving food, Maddie was excited to be there at first!

From Lunch Date

But slowly got bored . . .

From Lunch Date

From Lunch Date

And eventually conked out . . .

From Lunch Date

From Lunch Date

And Mommy enjoyed a very English lunch with a half pint.

From Lunch Date

England Part I

So I am bloody awful at keeping up with the blog, but now that Maddie & I am stuck in England for awhile (hopefully not), I thought I would upload a video I have taken of her while we are here. I have loads of pictures, but I do not have the cord to upload them! Both Maddie & I hope to get home soon because we miss Daddy!

The first one is of Maddie in her English jump jump that Nana bought for her (along with the blocks Nana bought).

4 Month Appointment

I promise to post a long, detailed blog about our trip to St. John, which was fantastic. Yesterday, Maddie and I went to the doctor for her four month appointment. She is doing wonderfully well. She now weighs 13.1 pounds and is 24.5 inches tall. She is in the 25-50% for everything so she is not too much of a peanut anymore! She also had four more shots and she was a champ. She only cried for a little bit and was smiling for mommy right after. In fact, we went and visited my work (to turn in Brian's NCAA basketball pool) and she was hamming it up for the entire office. Later on though, she had a bit of a tough time at home and screamed when we tried to bath her. For those of you who know, Maddie LOVES her bath so her screaming at being put in the water was concerning. We just put her to bed and after a long night sleep she is just fine!

Maddie in the Morning 2/26/2010

Good Morning

Today Maddie and I went to our mommy group.  For me, it was nice seeing all the moms.  I can't say Maddie enjoyed seeing all the other babies because she slept through the entire session.  It was great because today was the first day I put her in the stroller without the car seat.  She seemed to really like it!  Anyway below is a video of Maddie in the morning before we left for the mommy group.

If at first you don't succeed, try try again . . . .

I guess there is no good place to start this blog, so I will start with today.  Today was momentous.  Why?  Because I was emotionally ready to revisit the breast feeding issue with Maddie.  I had heard through various sources that the Breast Feeding Center of Greater Washington D.C. was wonderful.  As a result, I made an appointment for a consultation.  I am unsure whether this consultation was heartbreaking or hilarious.  The consultant immediately recognized that Maddie was "thriving," "friendly," and "alert."  Further on in the consultation, the consultant learned that one "can't make her do anything."  In the hour appointment, we tried many different methods and strategies.  To be honest, none of them worked and Maddie just became upset and exhausted.  She immediately fell asleep in the baby carrier as I was leaving the center.

There was a glimmer of hope so I am thinking over what I want to do.  My most important priority is to keep Maddie a happy, healthy, sleeping through the night baby.  My second priority is to make sure she gets breast milk and to make sure I am functioning, healthy, and not stressed out mommy.

On the nanny front, I talked to a lady today that sounds promising.  I am waiting to hear from the other family in the share to see if they are willing to interview her.

Tomorrow we have our mommy group lunch and meeting.  Maddie is not impressed with these meetings because they occur during her lunchtime, but it gets us out of the house (and walking) and keeps mommy sane.  Hopefully I will be able to take some pictures tomorrow to post.

And it begins . . . .

So our plan was to have this blog ready as soon as Maddie was born. Maddie had other plans. She came into this world in such a fashion that it has taken Mommy and Daddy three months to recover. We have finally adjusted to being parents and unfortunately because the task of trying to recount the last three months will be impossible as so much has happened already, we hope that we can from this point onwards give you a good idea of what goes on in her day-to-day life!