Goodbye For Now

How can I leave this face:

or this face:

Not very easily.  That's for sure.  I am leaving for nearly two weeks tomorrow morning for a tour with a fantastic group whose website you can see here.  I am really looking forward to making great music with wonderful people, but this will be the longest I've ever been apart from either Charlie or Jason.  My heart breaks to think about how long I'll be apart from them, but unfortunately, that is often the nature of my job.  And when it comes down to it, I think it is good for Charlie to see her mom using her talents and doing what she loves! 

I am also consoled by the thought of how much time these two will get to spend together:

We are adding one extra day at daycare for Charlie next week and she'll get to spend the other two days with her Papi.  They are planning on hitting the park a lot:

And I'm sure they'll read a lot of books:

After that first week, my mom will fly in to spend a week bonding with Charlie.  The opportunity for Jason and Charlie and my mom and Charlie to spend such quality time together just wouldn't happen if I weren't going away, so I'm grateful for that.  It doesn't make it much easier to leave, but it warms my heart to think of Charlie growing closer to both of them while I'm gone.  My mom hasn't seen Charlie since she was seven weeks old, so they'll have a lot of catching up to do:

Luckily, international calling cards/plans, email and Skype make this a very small world.  We hope to skype at least once a day and will hopefully get to chat by phone a lot as well.  It won't be the same as being there, but it is so much easier to do this now with all this available technology, than it would have been even five or ten years ago! 

So, now I'm off to finish packing.  The harpsichordist, John, is staying with us tonight (he is currently studying at Cambridge) and we fly out tomorrow morning.  I already have a huge lump in my throat thinking about saying goodbye to my Charlie and my Jason, but I have no regrets about my decision to keep working.  While I'm gone, Jason and I will both be posting about what we're doing in our respective locales.  His posts will hopefully have lots of pictures of Charlie and my posts will have lots of pictures of Maine, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and lots of crazy musician types.  :) 

Now where did I leave that manual breast pump for the plane ride . . .
  

School Photos

A few weeks ago Charlotte's report card said that she had dressed up in a pig costume while playing dress-up with the other kids.  I asked if anyone had taken photos and was thrilled to hear that they had!  Although, because there are other people's children in the pictures, I'm not allowed to have copies of them.  They put them up around the daycare and then destroy the copies when they take them down.  Boo hoo!  So no, there are no adorable piggy Charlotte pictures in this post. 

There are, however, some cute pictures of her before and after school.  Jason and I often send each other pictures of Charlie when we drop her off or pick her up.  Jason usually takes her in in the mornings and I am always so happy to get my Charlie pic of her arrival.  Then, when I pick her up, I often send Jason a pic of her smiling face to brighten his train trip home.  Here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

Date Night

Jason's birthday was on Monday so we decided to have a date to celebrate his 35(!) years.  I got a great deal through Living Social that got us steak frites and wine at Le Bouchon Bordelais.  My friend Mary-Maye offered to watch Charlotte so we were able to have a proper date night! 

We didn't manage to get a very good picture of the two of us on our date, but I can't entirely blame the waiter who took it.  (Afterall, I did just admit that I, myself, have no clue how to work our camera!)  Taking a picture in a dark room covered in mirrors with a table full of dirty dishes just isn't very conducive to lovely picture taking.

Exibit A:

Although, I did manage to get a very handsome shot of my very handsome husby when we were having some pre-dinner drinks down the road:

And he managed to surprise me (clearly) by getting a not so attractive picture of me at dinner (and then refused to take any more for fear of being rude after the flash accidentally went off).

Despite the less than stellar photos, we had a great time. 

Meanwhile, Charlotte was having a great time with Mary-Maye and her family.  Her daughter Chloe was very excited to hold Charlotte and it seems that Charlotte was quite happy to be held:

Until she dropped her on the floor:

Just kidding.  :)


Mary-Maye came by the next day to drop off some art that her daughters made for Charlotte.  So sweet!  I need to get a bulletin board of some sort so I can display art that Charlotte has made and has gotten from her friends!  Speaking of, I thought this was a great post about displaying kid's art. 

But I digress.  A great time was had by all and we hope to do it again soon!  Before Charlotte was born, we had high hopes of having a date night every week or two, but we have failed miserably.  We are hoping to go for at least once a month though.  It is just so nice to have a romantic dinner out together!

Mamarazzi

I have a confession to make:  I have no idea how to use my camera.  It is a Canon Rebel T2i and has all sorts of fancy bells and whistles and I have no idea how to do anything more than point, focus and shoot.  

                                               

Of course I could just read the manual, but that sounds incredibly boring.  Wouldn't it be more fun to read a pretty book?  I've been drooling over this book about photographing kids.  I'm assuming there are some pointers on how to actually use the camera in there as well.

One of the blogs I like to read has a great list of online resources on how to use your camera.  Click here for that link.  She also has a great page of general photographry related information here.  I can't wait to read through all of these tutorials!  And, if all else fails, I could alway read the stupid manual!

St Paul's Cathedral

After a long, lazy Saturday morning and afternoon, we decided to head into town to catch evensong at St Paul's Cathedral. They normally charge around £14 to enter, but apparently if you're headed to evensong, you don't have to pay.  Sweet!

Evensong was lovely. The choir sang beautifully and the whole service was peaceful and prayerful.  I would normally have some lovely pictures to show you of the inside of the cathedral at this point, but taking pictures inside the cathedral is not allowed.  Boo hoo.  Instead, we posed for some pictures of the outside of the cathedral:

right foot

left foot

We managed to get a tourist to take a picture of all three of us.  He was one of a large group of foreign tourists all with big, fancy cameras, so we figured he would know how to use our big, fancy camera.  Wrong!  After taking one picture and looking confused, he asked in broken English, "where is autofocus?!".  Once that was resolved, we got a decent picture of Jason and me, but Charlotte was a bit distracted:

All three of us in one photo!  

After hitting Top Shop and running into the actor who plays Gavin on "Gavin and Stacey" (one of our favourite UK sitcoms) we stopped for a couple more pictures in a garden:

Charlie's still toothless grin!

Then we went on a lovely walk to find some dinner.  We passed a good view of the Tower Bridge on the way:

We ended up near Borough Market (where we'll be meeting friends for dinner later this week).  The market itself was closed, but there were a lot of restaurants for us to choose from.  As we walked around, we saw groups of people standing around drinking and eventually realised that they were all vendors from the market having a post-work drink.  It made for a fun and social atmosphere.  I managed to snap a quick shot:

We eventually stopped at a great little place for dinner.  We got a table outside and enjoyed the beautiful evening.   

We were hoping Charlotte might take a snooze so we could have some adult time, but she was having too much fun hanging with her Papi:

While we were waiting for our food Jason recognised a guy who is apparently a lawyer at his old firm in DC.  They never worked together in DC, but they both recognised each other.  They chatted briefly and ended up eating at the same restaurant.  It is a small world after all!

We eventually caught a train that took us back home on the overground railway.  It is the same line that Jason now takes to and from work.  It is quite a bit less crowded than the tube and is a much more pleasant experience in general.  Charlotte managed to stay awake all the way to the station, but conked out shortly after we got on the train.

It was a great day.  :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband. 

Thank you for being the adorable man that you are:

Pre-work breakfast, 2011

Thank you for marrying me:

2004

Thank you for traveling with me:

Costa Rica, 2009

 Thank you for loving my family unconditionally:

2006

Thank you for being a smarty pants:

Georgetown Law graduation, 2006

Thank you for all the incredible meals you have cooked for me:

2007

Thank you for not taking yourself too seriously:

2008

Thank you for having a sense of humor (even after spending two weeks in the hospital):

Physical therapy exercises, 2009

Thank you for making me laugh:

2008

Thank you for all the goodies you have baked:

Maine blueberry pie, 2008

Thank you for being an animal lover:

2008

Thank you for doing yard work with dress socks on:

2010

Thank you for renovating the kitchen:

BEFORE

AFTER

Thank you for being romantic:

2004

Thank you for being an amazing father:

2010

Happy birthday, dear husband. You are loved more than you know.

Baby Led Weaning

 

I had never heard of baby led weaning until we moved to the UK.  Apparently it is a big thing here (well, at least bigger than it is in the states).  The idea is that you give your child actual food instead of mushed up "baby" food.  It wouldn't have occurred  to me to try this had we not had issues getting Charlotte to eat her solids.  She went from being super excited about eating to crying when we offered her food.  Then one day I just tried her with half a banana and she loved it! 

There are people who swear by baby led weaning and people who think it is irresponsible.  I don't think we'll quit feeding her "baby" food, but we'll probably try more whole foods with her and see how she does.

Here are some pictures I pulled from www.babyledweaning.com:

broccoli

salad (not sure how smart this one is)

spaghetti

PORK CHOP!