The Cooksley's American Invasion

After months of tearful goodbyes, selling off all of our furniture and electricals, finding a new home for our cats, selling

our house, and completing piles of paperwork, we have finally made it back to the US. It's hard to believe that we actually did this; that we upped and moved our little family across the ocean. It's been just over a month, and we still feel like we're just here visiting. Staying in your parent's house and living out suitcases can make you feel that way, but we hope to be on our way to getting settled.

Robin and I are going to keep this blog updated so our friends and family can see what we're up to. We hope that you'll also stay in touch with us by sending us emails, pictures and by SIGNING UP FOR SKYPE!!

Here are a few pictures from our first month here. We'll be sure to post more soon. Until then, please stay in touch and we miss all of you so much.

PS Did I mention that Lily is walking now??!!

xoxo,
Ashley, Robin and Lily

It's so hard to find the time to upload photos and post them here, but Lily has gone to sleep fairly easily tonight so we have some extra time (I hope I didn't just jinx this!). It seems a lot has changed since I posted last (almost a month ago). As many of you know, Lily was co-sleeping with us since birth, wasn't taking a bottle or dummy, and couldn't sleep unless she was on one of us or in bed with me. As you can imagine, it became a bit much for us and we decided that we needed to get some help to get Lily into a routine.

A week ago a wonderfully magical woman came to stay with us for five days to help us get Lily settled and figure out

a good routine for all of us. Sarah's been a maternity nurse for almost 20 years and within hours she had Lily eating on a 3-hour schedule (instead of hourly because some doctor told me she was a "hungry baby"). The first night she had Lily sleeping in her moses basket and the next day she had her taking a bottle. It's been truly life changing to have someone here that could guide us on what is best for Lily. Turns out that despite what the midwifes and health visitors told us, breastfed babies DO have wind and need to be burped (I was burping Lily after a feed, but when nothing would come out immediately, I assumed she didn't have any wind). Basically, I was giving Lily colic!

There are many things that medical professionals have told us that was, basically, a load of rubbish. Here are just a few things:

1. You can't get a baby under 3 months old onto a routine -- Lily is 11 weeks old tomorrow and is on a routine now.
2. Breastfed babies don't need to be winded
3. Winding babies is a cultural thing and we don't actually have to wind our babies
4. Lily was crying and grumpy all the time because she's a hungry baby
5. Because Lily slept with her hands up by her head, we shouldn't try too hard to swaddle her because "some babies just don't like being swaddled". This may be true, but Lily now sleeps swaddled and it seems to be working a charm.

I'm sure there are other things, but it's so incredibly difficult to know who to listen to. Obviously, every baby

is different and you have to figure some things out for yourself, but I have felt incredibly pressured to do the "right" thing and to know what this is for my baby. No one in particular has made me feel this way -- it's something I've done to myself. When you read books, magazines, talk to doctors/midwives/health visitors and get contradicting advice, you just don't know who to turn to or what to do. Having Sarah here gave me a chance to have someone get to know Lily AND me and then make some suggestions. I can't recommend it enough to anyone who is struggling like I was.

We feel like we have a different baby now. She's happy, relaxed and smiles constantly because she doesn't have a ton of trapped air and can now get some good sleep. Also, she has a mom who is also a lot more relaxed and happier. I'm sure it has an effect on her.

Here are some recent pictures of our pumpkin. Can you believe she's 11 weeks old tomorrow??

Going to be a bit of a quick post because Lily is close to meltdown. She's having a chat with her dad at the moment, but I know that a feed is just around the corner!

We had a great weekend. Our friends Cara and Mark just got back from travelling and so we caught up on with them over the weekend and have a lovely walk along the river. It's lovely to have them back in town, and Cara has volunteered to play nanny this week -- yay!

We also had our NCT reunion with all eight couples and babies. It was a hilarious cycle of a group of babies feeding, a group sleeping and a group just hanging out. Below are some pictures of the day. Lily is the biggest baby -- the one trying to eat Adam's arm!

First there were three..

Then add another...

Lily was six weeks old yesterday...where the heck has the first six weeks gone?! On one hand, it seems like YEARS since she was born -- like she's always been with us. On the other, it really does seem like a couple of days ago that I was miserably pregnant wondering if she was ever going to make an appearance.

She's doing loads of new tricks now -- cooing, smiling, pooing at the same time almost daily, stretching her legs to stand up, turning her head to look at me when I'm burping her and giving me a huge smile, dribbling loads, sucking her fingers. We have a bit of a routine now (I use the term 'routine' loosely). She's even gone to sleep in her moses basket a few times now, which is a huge step forward.

But boy is it tiring. I'm still getting used to this new little thing in my life, and so is Robin. It's becoming quite clear that our life will never be the same again, and that's not really a bad thing, but it does take getting used to. We're dying to go out for a night, but we're coming to terms with the fact that we may not get that night out for quite a long time. That's okay though because we'll have plenty of time for that when she's older.

Here are some more pictures of our little pumpkin. She's changed so much already! Yes, I know some are sideways, but I don't really have the time to correct and re-upload them, sorry!

It's not like I didn't believe people, but when you're in the midst of learning how to take care of a brand new teeny

human being without any previous work experience, well, it's hard to believe that it does get easier. Forget launching a user-generated video website in 10 weeks, forget having to edit 100 petcare articles in 3 days, forget all the re-orgs and new jobs, forget all the management challenges -- being handed a newborn baby that is solely reliant upon you too survive is by far the most difficult job I've ever had. Of course, no bonus or work recognition compares to the reward you get from having that teeny baby stare into your eyes like you are a God, or looking down in bed to see a her curled up next to you with her tiny hands and arms draped across you.

If I could get the hang of getting her to settle in her moses basket then i'll be golden! She's still co-sleeping with us and it's like having a wild boar in bed next to you -- a grunting, farting, snorting little boar. Of course,

much much cuter. We're working toward her moving over, but we may still be a couple of weeks away. At least we're getting sleep, usually about 8-10 hours in bed, and she's feeding about every 2 hours or so.

Still breastfeeding, which feels like a huge accomplishment after almost 4 weeks. I do think I'm getting into the swing of things and it's SOOO convenient when you're out and about to be able to feed wherever, whenever without having to mix up bottles, etc. Of course, the thing they don't tell you about breastfeeding is how attached a baby is to her mother. I feel so awful when she's crying and Robin can't settle her. I'm sure that'll change as she gets older and becomes daddy's girl.

Mom is still here and I can't even begin to imagine what it'll be like when she's gone. This morning mom got into my bed to be with Lily while I got a shower. When I opened the bathroom door, mom was standing there with Lily naked in one arm, and Lily's clothes covered in poo in the other. She had a huge blow out as soon as I got up and it got all over her clothes and the bedding. Hoorah! It was definitely a 2-person job, but when mom is gone I'll have to learn how to do it by myself. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I wish she could stay here all the time.

In the meantime, here are some new pictures of Lily-pie.