I crave London!

I must interupt the Charlotte extravanga because one year ago today Tess and I left on our wonderful (and freezing) trip to London and Paris. I have never been so cold as I was during that trip but it was awesome none the less. It was the perfect way to kick off 2010 (and in 2011 I look forward to finally being able to wear all the clothes I bought in London! :-) Here is a recap of our adventure...

This is Trafalgar Square on New Years Day.

Sunset on The Thames

Yeah for Big Ben

 Afternoon Tea at The Orangery in Kensington Gardens

Twelfth Night by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Day trip to Oxford to visit Tess' stomping ground during her summer at BADA

Balliol College (where Tess studied)

Christ Church College

Stairs where scenes from Harry Potter were filmed

Picture taken by the racist worker at Christ Church.

Harry Potter Great Hall!

Off to Paris on the Eurostar

The best part of the Metro is the signs (the actual Metro is gross and smells like urine). This was very disappointing for me because I have such a love of The Tube in London!

Beautiful Sacre Coeur

 La Tour Eiffel a nuit

 It Sparkles!!!

Notre Dame

 Inside Notre Dame was so beautiful. I wish the photos I took captured the incredible stained glass.

 Musee d'Orsay

 My favorite painting by Renoir in person!!!

Snow in Versailles (the coldest I have ever been by far)

 Hall of Mirrors

 Unfortunately the fountains weren't running because well...they were frozen solid. Someday I would like to go back when the gardens are in bloom and all the fountains are running. I bet it is amazing!

La Louvre

La Tour Eiffel again

Notre Dame a nuit...Beautiful!

Back to London...it was iffy if we would make it back through the Chunnel but we did and this is the view of the English snowcovered countryside from the train.

 Harrods

 Snow covered Hyde Park

 Our final night we went to see Billy Elliot which was amazing.

 Mmmm cider... I think this turned out to be my last drink until two months ago for obvious reasons ;-)



As the title of this post says I crave London. It's weird but I do. I will be back someday.

Until We Meet Again...

You won't be missed.

Since I found one pair of jeans out of about seven that I own that I am able to button it is time to pack up all my maternity clothes.

Although I technically liked them all I will not miss wearing them and having people say "Wow I think you got bigger during the lunch hour!" Except for my fabulous Old Navy no-panel elastic wasteband maternity jeans that are so cute and comfortable (except in the third trimester) that I debated long and hard before forcing myself to put them in the pile with everything else. But I was strong and in they went. Hooray for pants with buttons and zippers.

 
And because any post without a picture of Charlotte would be like so incredibly boring (in my opinion) here is her 10 week photo.

Merry Christmas

Charlotte wishes everyone a Merry Christmas!

Two Months Old

Believe it or not Charlotte turned two months old on Sunday.  (I am a little late posting because of a super annoying virus on my laptop that won't let me get on the internet.) In just the last few weeks she has been doing so many new things. One day she was quiet and the next she was gooing and gaaing at us. We have some interesting conversations this way. The other great development was of course the smiling. It is definitely getting more common. The other day she was looking so cute and silly making faces that I started laughing pretty hard. Apparently she thought my laugh was pretty funny and started smiling so big. We can't wait to hear her own laugh.

We had her two month doctor's visit on Monday and she was declared perfect! She now weighs 11 pounds 5 ounces and is 23 inches long, in the 75 percentile for both. The worst part of the visit and maybe her life so far (for both Charlotte and Mom) was her shots of course. Her face turned beet red and she screamed bloody murder. Ugh it was awful. At least we have two months before having to do that again!

Things Charlotte enjoyed in her Second Month:

Of course meeting Aunt Tessie, Aunt Katie, Uncle Jon, and Morgan and Zachary and having a fabulous Thanksgiving.

Picking out and decorating her first Christmas tree.

Saying goodbye to her limited wardrobe of newborn clothes and hello to her vast selection of 0-3 month outfits.

Starting to talk- favorite word is gaaaa

Laying on her playmat and looking at herself in the mirror attached to it.

Swinging in her swing and looking at herself in the mirror above her (Are we seeing a theme here?)

Staring at the ceiling fan is still her favorite pastime (besides eating). The obsession with Mr. Fan, as it's called these days, is sometimes the only reason I am able to get dressed some days.

 Things Charlotte is looking forward to in month 3:
CHRISTMAS!!!

And because this post is late here is her 9 week picture.

First Smiles

Todd and I were waiting impatiently to receive our first smiles from Charlotte. We had some previews of her adorable smile while she was sleeping but nothing on purpose. Finally one morning Todd got the first smile when he was kissing her goodbye before heading to work. While still few and far between they are slowly becoming more frequent, mostly coming right when she wakes up from a nap (if she doesn't wake up crying that is). Here are a few that I managed to capture. The quality is really poor because they were taken on my non fancy phone.