Ahhhhh....that's the map I've been staring at all day.

We aren't able to move into our new home until Friday so right now we're staying at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Kensington Road Knightsbridge- literally across the street from the Knightsbridge tube stop, for those of you who know this area better than me. Grace and I will be able to start moving our things in to our new place after we meet the owners to assess the inventory and their current condition at noon on Friday. There area in Kensington we will be living is Earls Court. Our flat is really close to the Earls Court tube stop. If you want the exact address, let me know and I'll email it to you.

After our loooong flight over and only being here for 2 days, I have decided having a baby with you is the way to travel. I'm pretty sure strangers go more out of their way to be helpful, friendly and talkative all because of Grace. I was just an annoying blonde American bimbo before Grace (BG). Thank you, Miss Grace! :)

flight over- I had two goals: get Michael to sleep as much as possible since he was getting off the flight and going straight into work, and prevent Grace from crying at all costs. Grace couldn't have been a better traveler, especially given the rough flight. It literally took us 1 hour to get from our place downtown Chicago to the lounge at the airport. Security was a breeze, even bringing milk along. I was really excited about this infant bassinet everyone has been raving about as well as flying business class (aka 1st class on British Airways) for my first time ever. When it was time to put Grace down "for the night" there was a comfy bassinet for her which attached to the wall directly in front of our seats. I've decided she would have slept the entire flight if it wasn't for the bumpy ride. Every time the seat belt sign went on, Grace had to come out of her comfy bed and get belted onto me. After this occurred 3 times (twice in which her and I were sound asleep) I decided to just keep her lying next to me on my seat. It was pretty awesome having seats that laid down into beds- THANK YOU, BP!

tip #1: Sam Blossom told me he successfully told the flight attendants he was going to leave his infant in the bassinet unless it got too bumpy at which time he would be right their to pick up his son as quickly as possible. I'm going going to try that next time and let you know how that goes from a Mommy's point of view.

Goal analysis- Michael slept a good chunk of time and Grace only got fussy a couple times. Given the craziness and the fact that there were 2 kids screaming, which seemed like most of the time, I'd give us a B-. Since Michael was able to sleep, but we weren't, Grace and I have been on completely different schedules than Michael has from the start. Like I said previously, he had to go straight into work, while Grace and I basically spent our entire first day sleeping and eating. Sounds awesome until Grace cried for almost an hour, didn't fall asleep until after midnight and I was wide awake and ready to party! The flight seems to have affected Grace's tummy- lots of dirty diapers and tears her first day in the UK. She seems back to her normal self so far as of yesterday.

Yesterday was our first exploration- very casual, but still exciting! We explored all the way to I believe it was Sloan Square and back. I decided to turn around because we started going beyond our map boundaries. Not before stopping in an adorable bookstore and getting a few things- 2 children's books- This is London and A Walk in London.  I also purchased a cute family travel guide- London Adventure Walks for families. It's 25 imaginative urban adventures inspired by a theme- some of my favorites are the Great Fire of london, Paddington Bear, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmations, the Romans, and Charles Dickens.

We had breakfast at a cafe where the people were extremely nice. Grace was flirting the entire time with a man who spoke a language I didn't recognize. It's pretty cool how babies bring different types of people together. We couldn't communicate at all except for our facial expressions to each other and exchanging smiles with Grace.

Michael, Grace and I had a lovely, casual and reasonable dinner at Olive before we ended our evening with another long stroll past our new home we'll be moving in on Friday.

I love you girls and miss having friends around so much already.

Lauren...your wedding was the perfect bash before we left.
Michelle...how was your big move? How's the new job? How is it living so close to your family and so far away from Doug's?
Ali...when do you and George take off for your next vacation?
Kat...Are you going to update your about me section or do you love Kermit more than we ever knew? We're planning a trip to Germany and Ireland for Oktoberfest- I'll have to pick your brain for that one.