I'm officially off the payroll now - my 14 weeks of maternity leave ended on Friday, so I'm back on Leave Without Pay until we head back home at the end of next year. It feels like an eternity since I was at work - although sometimes I'd love to go back, because it felt far less stressful than learning how to look after a newborn!

We were looking back over some early photos of Isobel over the weekend, where we'd rolled up sleeves and leg cuffs to try and make her outfits fit a little better. Now she's starting to grow out of some of her smaller outfits - we've had to retire a couple already, and a few others are getting close. Eight weeks doesn't seem like a long time, but she's grown so much already, we sometimes don't realise without looking back at those early piccies.

We had a couple of outings during the week - Isobel got dressed up to go out for coffee with some of the Aussie wives on Tuesday, and everyone loved her little pink onesie and the matching Pumpkin Patch pinafore from Aunty Jo. We also had a Halloween doo last night hosted by one of the guys at work, unfortunately the Elmo costume we'd bought for her was closer to a 12mo size, so we made do with one of her bear suits she received at the shower in July. Andy was a monk, and I went as a vampire maiden - next year I'm going to choose something a little warmer, bare shoulders in late October is not the best idea!! Andy had a ball showing her off to everyone all night - she slept for most of the evening, and only woke up to have a bit of a snack and stare at all the strangely-attired people at the party.

I had visions of a long night after she'd behaved herself so well at the party - managed to get her to sleep just before midnight, and she didn't wake again until about half past four - another five and a half hours with the end of daylight savings last night! She also went back to sleep pretty quick after her feed, and slept for another couple of hours - I'm hesitant to get too excited about these long sleep stretches just yet, in case I jinx things! She is getting much better at putting herself to sleep, which means we don't have to always wait until she's out before putting her down in her cot or the bed ... so much of an improvement from those early weeks!

An update on the vehicle situation - we've decided the Jeep is not really practical for us anymore. We're having to spend more and more in maintenance, and the rear passenger doors are pretty small which makes it difficult to get Isobel in and out in her car seat. We managed to do a deal with one of our work mates heading back to Australia, so we're buying his Durango and we'll sell off the Jeep in slow-time over the next few weeks. The Durango is much better suited to what we'll be doing over the next 12 months, and has much more room inside - so next time Mum & Dad come to visit they'll have a bit more room in the back seat!!

Isobel managed to sleep for more than five and a half hours last night - her longest stretch ever.

Unfortunately the time started at around 7pm when we were out shopping for Halloween costumes, so we spent the evening expecting her to wake up any minute and didn't really take advantage of the quiet time!

At least she's starting to sleep for some longer periods now - today she slept for most of the day again, so perhaps her growth spurt is tapering off? Now we just have to manipulate those longer sleep sessions from daytime to nighttime ...

One word sums up this week for us - laundry! Isobel has been firing from both ends all week, not from any illness but might have something to do with putting her on her tummy a little more. The result is that 'multiple outfits per day' we've been hearing about ... for her and for us!

Her sleep was a little restless this week - she's definitely having more 'awake' times, which is challenging us to keep her amused. The 'tummy time' mat we received at the baby shower is a big hit, but she still tires easily and gets grumpy ... so we're getting pretty good at reading her body language.

On the downside, our venerable Jeep is having problems again - noticed a coolant leak earlier last week, which we thought we'd fixed by replacing one of the old radiator hoses. We're still losing coolant though, so we've had to bite the bullet and book it in for a service ... had hoped not to spend too much more on the thing, our luck it'll be a $5 part and several hundred in labour. Sheesh.

We've also figured out why this site is now preventing us uploading photos - we're over our space limit. May have to look at one of those photo-hosting sites ... it's a serious pain to go back and resize everything we've posted so far, and if we do it'll only buy us a few months. More news when we make a decision...

What a week!

Monday - Isobel and I spent the afternoon in Tukwila with a few of the other Aussie Wives, as a couple of the admin staff from the Embassy were visiting. Isobel was very well behaved throughout a long session, with lots of other kids and chatty Mums. Might have an inside line on a babysitter for a farewell function next month - my old boss is leaving the Air Force and going home to Australia, so we're throwing him a bit of a doo at the Museum of Flight, with a couple of the aircraft out for photos. Andy's been dubbed Photography Liaison for the contractor to get everything set up ... I think he'd have been happy to do the photography himself, but that would preclude him from imbibing in a celebratory drink or three.

Tuesday - off to Children's Hospital in Seattle for the appointment with the Occupational Therapist. I've been terrible with predicting traffic and travel times so far, which meant we arrived about 20mins before the 15mins early we were supposed to be for our appointment. That wouldn't have been too bad, except the therapist was then half a hour late for the appointment - so I was stuck in a waiting room with a not-happy-Jan baby for over an hour. On the plus side, we've now 'passed' breastfeeding - we did a pre/post weigh to see how much Isobel gobbled during a feeding, and it was around 3.5oz ... a huge change from the miniscule amounts in the first week or so. Very pleased with ourselves, we are .

Wednesday - off to Issaquah for the first of a five week 'new baby' course through Overlake Hospital. I stuffed up the traffic estimate again and arrived half an hour early , beating the instructor ... glad she left a note on the door. Six new mums in the class, all baby girls - quite unusual. Today was mainly introductions and some initial discussion on feeding and sleeping issues. Next week we'll be on to developmental milestones. Isobel was a bit grizzly throughout, probably because I was a bit hectic trying to get out the door on time. Byt the time we got home she was tired and very upset, so it took most of the rest of the day to calm her down and get back into routine.

Thursday - almost a different baby today! All she wanted to do was eat and sleep. I actually got to sleep in to about 8am, a real luxury these days. Probably just catching up from the last three days, but I was able to get some sleep myself as well as get some things done around the house. Mummy's blood pressure says thankyou . Then someone flipped a switch and we discovered the meaning of 'the witching hour' - very grumbly and needy all evening. Don't understand why she would not sleep in her cot - apparently lying flat across Andy's knees was more comfortable than her mattress.

The last couple of days have been much improved - either we're getting more used to her new 'relaxed' schedule, or we're getting more creative/desperate with our responses to her cries. She seems to have settled on a 4hr-ish schedule, and is starting to tolerate being put down when drowsy rather than having to get her to sleep. All this carrying and rocking is going to do wonders for my biceps!!

Isobel and I have had a surprisingly busy week this week - just getting used to being home alone with each other for the first time, as Andy had to return to work on Monday. She is far more alert during the day than ever before, which took a little getting used to - but she's quite happy to sit in the bouncer for a few minutes so Mummy can grab a shower or scoff a bit of lunch down .

We even managed a bit of shopping on Thursday, which meant I had to strap her into her carseat, and then strap the capsule into the car - no mean feat at my height, especially as the rear doors on the Jeep aren't particularly wide! So we've survived our first week alone relatively unscathed, and learned a lot about what works and what doesn't. Next week will hopefully be more successful again!

We also had Isobel's four week checkup on Friday - she's now at 9lbs 8.5oz, which is a little ahead of the curve since we last weighed her last week. Everything checked out OK, and she received a second HepB shot as part of the immunization scheme over here - she copes much better than I do with needles! A few cries in the office and on the way home, but soon off to sleep in the carseat. Poor kiddie, at the next appointment she'll be getting four shots ...

We also had 'permission' to relax our 3hr feeding routine now she's putting on weight pretty steadily. We tried letting her sleep through on Friday night, which was a complete disaster - up at 3.30am, and still up at about 7am. Scratch that idea - we'll just try stretching out the night time feedings rather than have her wake up hungry and cranky!

Lots to do this week - one of the admin staff from the Embassy is visiting Seattle tomorrow, so Isobel and I are going to the 'wives' gathering to say hello and introduce Isobel to everyone. We then have a visit to the occupational therapist on Tuesday to get some exercises to help Isobel breastfeed a little better, and on Wednesday we're starting a 5wk 'new baby' class series ... will be good to catch up with some other local mothers who have babies around the same age. Should keep us busy for a while next week!

Where has the time gone? It's been four weeks since we brought Isobel home, and she's changed so much already. She's developing some variety in her cries - as well as the all-out 'not happy' cry, we're now hearing some cuter little mews and peeps that sound much happier! It's so nice to have some positive feedback from her .

Today we decided to reward ourselves with breakfast at Ruby's in Redmond - steel ourselves with some carbohydrates for the coming week. Isobel cried for a couple of minutes in the car after we left home, but then fell asleep and stayed asleep for the whole time ... what an angel . We even had time to duck into Borders next door and pick up some magazines to read through this afternoon.

Andy's back to work tomorrow, so I'm still a bit nervous about how I'm going to manage the whole routine on my own and still keep myself fed, watered and somewhat presentable. We've been trialling a new approach for nights where Andy does the late night one around midnight, and I take the next one at 2-3am ... all good, except it's still taking about two hours to feed and get her back to sleep! Hopefully she'll settle soon, or we'll all be difficult to live with next week.