The Stanley's

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Mr. Smiles

Beckham has recently decided that it's ok to smile when he's wide awake, and not just when he's starting to fall asleep. We love it!!!

On Saturday there was a Regatta down in Durham so we decided to head down and check it out for a bit. Durham is just about a 15 minute train ride from us so it was a nice, quick day trip. There is also a really pretty cathedral and castle that we went and saw.

Durham Castle...

(unfortunately the castle was closed for a private event, so we weren't able to go inside)

Views of both the castle and cathedral...

Durham Cathedral...

Parts of Harry Potter were filmed in this square...

It was a fun day trip, and definitely something we'll have to do again! Sean got some great pics!!!

London!

While my mom was still in town, we took the train down to London to get Beckham registered as a U.S. citizen and to get his passport so that he can fly home to Utah with us in a couple of weeks. Since we had to go down there anyway, we decided to make a trip out of it and stayed for a few days to do some sight-seeing. The first day, after our appointment at the U.S. Embassy, we took a double-decker bus tour to get an overview of all the big sights. The next couple of days we were able to go back and spend more time at our favorite places.

Beckham just became an official U.S. citizen...

St. Paul's Cathedral (where Princess Di and Prince Charles were married)...

The Tower of London...

The Tower Bridge...

Big Ben...

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament...

Our second day we took one of these boats down to Greenwich and spent a few hours there...

The Royal Naval Academy (part of Pirates 4 was filmed here)...

The National Maritime Museum...

Buckingham Palace...

Changing of the Guards...

Westminster Abbey (where Prince William and Kate were married)...

There was a free organ concert in Westminster Abbey on Sunday evening which we went to. It was a much easier way of getting a look inside the Abbey than having to stand in line for hours, then having to pay to get in!!!

Visitors!

When Beckham was 10 days old, he started receiving visitors from back home. First, my sister Anamae came for about a week, and was a BIG help!!! Sean was busy getting ready for finals so she came just in time. I was able to get some much needed sleep while Beckham hung out with his auntie :)

A couple of days before Anamae headed home, my parents came into town. My dad was only able to stay for a few days, but my mom stayed for another 2 weeks after he headed home. It was so much fun to be able to see my sister and parents! Beckham can't wait to see them again and meet his other grandparents and aunts and uncles in just a couple of weeks!

Anamae and Beckham...

Grandpa making the most of his limited time with Beckham...

Obviously, Beckham likes to sleep when he is being held...

A trip out to the coast while everyone was still here! Sean came and met us for some yummy fish and chips at Marshall's after he finished one of his finals...

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Beckham's Photo Shoot

Our friend Alta took some pictures of Beckham for us when he was 12 days old. Here are a few of my favorites...

If you want to see the rest, here's a link to view them on picasa...

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=SeanMStanley&target=ALBUM&id=5605017378989018081&authkey=Gv1sRgCP7Tn7ev3MWDBQ&feat=email

Thanks again Alta!!!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Beckham Michael Stanley

We are now officially part of the "parent blogging club"--you know what I'm talking about--people whose blog posts revolve around their kids. That's right--Beckham Michael Stanley (6 lbs 7 ozs) was born on Easter Sunday, April 24th at 1:55 am. He is easily the cutest and most interesting of the 3 of us, so in my opinion, why should I bother blogging about anything else, haha :)

Well, like I said, Beckham was born on April 24th, and boy was he a surprise! I wasn't due for another week (May 1st) and was convinced that I'd go past my due date, so we weren't expecting him at all when he came. I'd had an appointment with my midwife (midwives are just how they do things over here in England--free healthcare and all) the day before and was scheduled to go back to see her in 2 weeks on May 6th. I was hoping he would decide to come before then, but wasn't entirely convinced he would. Let's just say his timing couldn't have worked out any better. He came in time for Sean to spend a lot of time with us that first week and get adjusted back to studying before his finals start this next Monday.

DISCLAIMER: I apologize if this is too much information for some people, but I figure putting it down here saves me from having to tell the story over and over. Stop now if you don't want all the details :)

I woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty good and decided to run a couple of errands in the afternoon while Sean was down at school studying for his upcoming finals. There were a few more things I wanted to get to pack in my hospital bag "just in case" he decided to come in the next week or so. I took the metro out to my first stop, did my shopping, and was back on the metro headed to another store when I started feeling tired and uncomfortable and decided to just turn around and head home to lay down instead. I got home around 4:30 and laid down on the couch. By 6 I was having some mild contractions about every 15 minutes or so, but still nothing strong enough to make me think that I was really in labor. Sean got home shortly after that and slowly the contractions started getting closer and stronger. By 9:30, they were about every 6-7 minutes so I decided it was time to call the Maternity Assessment Unit at the hospital to get their advice on when to come in. They told me to wait a little longer and see if the contractions slowed down or got closer and to call back if they started getting worse. After taking a hot bath and some tylenol, I decided to go lay on the bed and we started watching some Big Bang Theory on the computer to try to take my mind off the pain. After the first episode, my contractions were about the same as before, and the all of a sudden around 11:30, it was like someone snapped their fingers and they got to be around every 3-4 minutes and a LOT stronger. I called back, they said to come in, and Sean started calling cabs and running around grabbing everything while I just laid on the bed. After calling 4 or 5 different cab services (the first few said the soonest they could have someone there wasn't for at least 20-30 minutes), Sean found one that could be pick us up in 5 minutes. I threw on the first clothes I saw, slowly made my way down our 4 flights of stairs, and barely got myself into the cab for the long, bumpy, 5 minute ride to the hospital.

When we finally got up to the maternity unit, they sent me to the waiting room! Apparently a couple other girls had shown up just before us and were currently in the assessment rooms getting checked. After sitting in the waiting room for about 15 minutes, they came and took us back to the assessment room where the midwife checked to see how far I was. I was already 8 or 9 centimeters, so they got me over to a delivery room right away. The "funny" part is, I had told Sean on the cab ride over that I would be ticked if they sent us home and that I better be able to get an epidural! Well, we definitely weren't going home, and I definitely wasn't getting my epidural--I was too far along at that point. They did give me gas & air (basically laughing gas), which definitely helped at least some, but was still no epidural! Anyway maybe 30 minutes (to be honest, I didn't really have a great sense of time at that point, haha) or so after getting to the delivery room, my water broke, and 10 minutes of pushing later, Beckham was born. While I was getting stitched up, Sean was able to Skype with our parents back home and introduce them to our little guy (all the nurses and midwives thought it was the coolest thing that we were "talking to America" on the computer :).

With how quickly everything had happened, it still seemed surreal that he was really here, but the second that he was in my arms for the first time, I knew he was perfect! We are so excited he's here and love every minute with him--except maybe the pooping...and peeing on himself...and mommy's lack of sleep...Just kidding :)

Anyway, here are some pics for your viewing pleasure :)

Welcome to the world...