Aloha, Hyde -
First of all, like others have said, no need to apologize or feel any sort of bad about playing slow. It's the only way to begin. Everyone who begins from scratch sucks, and has to accept it - only then can improvement happen. Besides, for two weeks, you are kicking some serious booty.
Also, as other said, barre chords take a bit of time and patience. You need to not only have proper placement, but (for me anyway), the barre finger can't lay flat - it has to be at almost a 45 degree angle. That not only helps the other fingers find the right place, but also helps minimize the chance of accidentally falling over the fret, muting the strings. Also, you do need to develop a bit of strength in the hand & fingers to clamp down evenly and hard enough to fret all the strings.
That said, I hardly ever use the standard D7 because I find the "Hawaiian" D7 usually sounds more bettah. You make that by playing 0202, using the index and middle fingers to fret the G and E strings.
Just keep at it and measure your improvement in increments. Soon the barre will be easier, and the transition in and out of them will also become nice and smooth. It takes time, but when playing the uke the journey is often at least as fun as the destination!