Her first movie

Yes, this happened about a month ago... (actually on her 1-month birthday!)

Going through old pictures. Isn't this just too cute not to share? 

We went with Dave's family to see Megamind.

Georgia is a fan. Well, actually, she ate and then slept the whole way through. 

I don't think she'd like movies that much now....or I should say other people in the theater won't appreciate us being there! Little G is becoming a noisy person these days...

After we took that first picture, she accidentally grabbed the tickets in her hands: 

I personally think she looks pretty good with those 3-D glasses on!

Invitation!

I got an invitation a few days ago in the mail! So exciting, don't you think???? 

What? What's the invitation for? 

You really want to know?

You're not going to believe this. 

Get ready:

"Your Cervical Smear Invitation"

oh goody! What I always wanted!!!


And yes... that's exactly what it said!

Just one of those days...

Today was one of them. Sigh.

Was supposed to meet a friend for coffee and shopping, but had a sleepy little one, so just managed to have time for coffee before heading home for lunch. (I'm not complaining about the coffee! This was the highlight of my day!!)

I decided to try to make refried beans when I got home. I've done some research and wanted to give it a try. A can of refried beans here is about $1.70. That's just too much money for me to comprehend spending on beans. Seriously. Beans?! Why so much??? So, I got some dried pinto beans, soaked them for a while and put them on the stovetop on low to simmer for a while. I kept adding water and stirring. But then forgot. For about 20 minutes. I smelled it first. Burnt beans. I ran to the stove and poured some water into the pot, but I was too late. I couldn't salvage it. And now I have a burnt pan and a lovely smell still wafting through the house (8 hours and several open windows later).

After lunch I still had to do the grocery shopping that didn't get done. The bus stop closest to our house was closed (stupid on-going construction!), so I walked to the next one and missed the bus that whizzed past me when I was about 20 feet from the stop.... so I kept walking. I mean, I've walked in worse weather. It was about 45 degrees and not very windy. And its only a mile or so to the store....

And then the second bus whizzed past me less than a minute later. Again, just one of those days.

Did my shopping.

Finished shopping right at 3:25. Not my brightest moment.

School gets out at 3:30. The last time I tried to catch a bus at 3:30, I ended up walking home because the bus was so full. I had been waiting for the bus when school got out. Even though I was the first one at the bus stop, I didn't make it on the bus because the 50 elementary students around me can maneuver and push each other out of the way easier than a woman with a stroller full of groceries.

So, I walked home.

Past several really rude teenagers who feel like they own the sidewalk. They got the side-eye from me, and probably deserved to get a few words as well. On a side-note, people here are really not very considerate about their walking and being respectful of others in public areas.

Did I mention it was a long shopping trip?

Oh yeah and Georgia's visa? Well, the British Government decided that starting this year infants need to get biometrics (fingerprints) done in order to get a visa. But infants are too young to do the appointment, so what ends up happening is you take the infant to the appointment and they tell you the baby is too little and they cancel the appointment and give you the visa. Now that's what I call effective! The problem with this is that we're not sure we can get an appointment before our trip to the States in February. I'll be traveling with her back home by myself (Dave will already be in the UK) so we're hoping that we can enter the UK again!


Anyways, on my way home from the grocery store, I was listening to music and this song came on:

And I realized how true it was. So, I tried to savor the moment of walking home. Until I realized I forgot to get milk. Sigh.

Hard to Understand?

What's harder to understand than an old, British man with a thick accent? 

An old, British man with a thick accent who's holding a cigarette between his lips. 

Something that is NOT hard to understand - how much fun this little one is!

toe nail polish, Glee and a sneeze

Yesterday Amanda came over (see this post) and Dave watched Little G, giving us time to go to Wimbledon and grab some lunch and hang out (girl time!) and do some shopping. Our shopping was pretty lame, actually. We mostly did grocery shopping, but we did manage to duck into Superdrug to grab some nail polish.

Do you know in this country, they charge anywhere from 3.50 to 6.50 in pounds (so roughly $5-10) for "cheap" nail polish?! Anyways, it was much needed as it is now a balmy 55 degrees outside (for the first time since October) and I can wear my flip flops in the house. Also, I can now reach my toes! Yay! 

Amanda brought up a good point of getting something bright colored so that it would look like spring. That's what we did. So, I am sporting a bright pink nail polish on my toes while wearing flip flops. 

Take that, England!

.  .  .  

One of the things I do in the privacy of my own home is to put on some music and sing along as loudly as I can. I think Little G gets a kick out of it. So today, I was singing along to Glee and I swear it looked like she was trying to sing too. In-between the smiles she was giving me, she was opening her mouth so very wide (not really any sound coming out) and I think she wanted to sing along. Future musician or singer? We'll see!

Another first for Little G - she went 6 hours between feedings last night! I fed her around 9 - a marathon feeding session! She ate for the longest time - much longer than normal. It took her a while to fall asleep. She was too happy, cooing and then pooping and then smiling in her crib. Somewhere between 10:30 and 11 she was finally asleep and she didn't make a sound until a little past 3! So wonderful.... I hope this becomes the new norm for us!

.  .  .  

A sneeze for your enjoyment

1 month old

Well, we're now at about 5 weeks 6 weeks. That's what I get for procrastinating being a mom....

A little update on Georgia, for those of you who are interested. It is so neat to watch her grow up and become a little person. She is going to be an extrovert like her father - she loves getting out of the house, going for walks in the stroller or Moby. She loves looking around and has trouble sleeping because she's so interested in the world around her (and the people there, too).

She has been smiling socially for the last week or two. That has to be one of the neatest things ever - going to get her out of the crib and having her smile at me. She *seems* to have a sense of humor (well, as much as a 6-week-old can have), laughing and smiling at times when mommy and daddy are frantic about something:

A few days ago when Dave and Tim (my brother) and I were in London, we stopped for a bite to eat by Buckingham Palace. There was a small bathroom, so I took Georgia to change her diaper. I had just finished, when I noticed her pants were wet. Confused, I looked for the source of the problem and I saw that I had not fastened her diaper tight enough, and the brand-new diaper that I had put on less than 30 seconds earlier was now wet and soaking through to her pants. I gave her a "scolding", a little tickle and pulled the pants off to start again. She gave me the biggest smile... makes me think she knew all along what she was doing :-)

 (taken on her one-month birthday - and in the outfit she wore at the hospital!)

I went to the Health Clinic here this week to have her "month" check-up (although thanks to Christmas break, it was really more like a 5-week check-up). All they did was weigh her, but she is now a hefty 10lbs 1oz. She is eating really well (if that weight didn't give that away!) and starting to look pretty fat. She was born at 6 pounds, so gaining 4 pounds in a month is amazing....

She got her first cold this week, thanks to Dave. She is still a fairly happy baby, sleeping and eating a bit more than normal. Her poor nose is completely stuffed, but I have a wonderful snot-sucker that keeps up. She had a bit of a fever, but some cool wash clothes helped cool her down.

Yesterday she actually started moving. She was laying on the couch next to me when all of a sudden she rolled over onto her side. Yes, she was on a slight incline, but still I was very surprised. I put her back, a little bit further away from the cushion crack, and she did it a second time! Here's a photo of her :-) She did this all on her own! I think she just wanted to be close to mommy.

 We're trying to stick to the schedule of eat, play and sleep. I don't schedule specific times for these activities, our day depends on what time I can get out of bed in the morning. It seems like we've been feeding 9 (usually when we wake up in the morning), noon, 3, 6 and nine and then putting her to bed. Again, this is a pretty loose estimate, and really depends on what time she wakes up in the morning. The best she does at night is 5 hours from the beginning of a feeding to the beginning of another feeding. This means that I get a 4-hour stretch of sleep at night. The rest of the feedings at night are usually a 4 hour one and then a three hour one. 

She is also slowly loosing her hair. I'm worried she's going to end up looking like this: 

But seriously, she only seems to be loosing hair on the top and sides of her head. I'm pretty sure she'll have a mullet in a month or so.

Anyways, that's probably way more than enough for her one month post....we're in love and can't wait for everyone to meet her!

Thankful for 2010

What a year 2010 was in the Wallace household!

It started in January at Maria's wedding. It was such a great wedding and I was so glad to be a part of my cousin's special day. As Dave and I were driving the rental car back to the airport, we had a discussion about where Dave was in his career. We talked about several different opportunities that *may* present themselves in the next year. 

Little did we know that over the next month Dave would begin talks with World Vision about moving to England. 

And then at the end of March we would find out that we were pregnant. 

The rest of the year was very full with me working as a substitute teacher and also part time in retail. Dave would continue in his job, slowly changing his role in preparation for moving. We had lots of discussions about moving, how to do it, and what we were doing.

But God put all the pieces into place. 

Our renters fell into our laps when Dave's uncle recommended our place to some APU students. We didn't even have to advertise. 

Some wonderful people from our church back home lived in Wimbledon and were a wealth of information about the area we were moving to. They suggested places to live and the church we began attending once we arrived. They were able to help us meet people in this country before we even arrived. 

Our finances worked out despite our worries and concerns. 

We moved when I was 33 weeks pregnant, and we had no place to live once we got here. We didn't have a doctor or a hospital.

The people at our new church helped us find a place to live. They gave us rides. They gave us a kitchen table and chairs. They answered questions and had us over for dinner. They made us feel welcome even though we asked funny questions and complained about England. 

Our house was only available because the other people who made an offer the day before us had requested a dishwasher. Our house is perfect for us (minus the dishwasher ;-)

Our next door neighbors (who we are slowly getting to know) have a little girl that is 6 weeks older than Georgia. 

Once we found our house, things with the doctors lined up. The whole NHS system was very strange to us, but the doctors office took us without complaining and we got into the hospital that is the *best in the area. 

Georgia decided to come a few days late, and she was teeny-tiny, but otherwise healthy when she arrived. 

Its amazing looking back how everything lined up in God's timing. If I had been more pregnant, we wouldn't have been able to move because I wouldn't have been able to fly. Although Dave was concerned about having a baby, it has made the move over here complete. We have met so many people that we wouldn't have otherwise spoken to. I really believe that our ministry over here will center around families - and it is all because of God's gift of Georgia.

Pray for us as we try to figure out what that ministry is. I am trying to get out of the house and find opportunities to meet people and get involved in the community. It is easier said than done, but I am excited to see what God will be doing over the next year.

Here's to what God has planned for 2011!