Working Mother

I am now officially a working mother. I knew it would be hard, but the reality is really starting to set in.

Yesterday was my first day back at the office, which means it was Charlotte's first day at day care. Judd drops her off at day care in the mornings because they don't open until 8:30 am, and if I leave that late, I will sit in traffic for an hour. He usually gets to work around 9, so it works out well. Other than the fact that he has to get up an hour earlier in the mornings now. I am glad that I didn't have to drop her off yesterday, as I surely would have shown up to work with black mascara streaks running down my cheeks. I actually made it through the day without tears, until last night when I went to bed. It was then that I realized that I was going to wake up in the morning and do it all over again, that it wasn't a one time thing.

Charlotte did well at day care. She took all of her bottles, and seemed to be a happy baby last night. I was so happy to see her at the end of the day. My arms were so lonely without her yesterday.

My day went well, other than realizing that the "Lactation Room" leaves a lot to be desired. I was envisioning a room with a nice couch, table, sink and refrigerator. However, when I opened the door, I was sorely disappointed. The Lactation Room is a large handicapped bathroom with a small chair and table in one corner with a couple of old "Parenting" magazines. So, basically, you sit in the chair and pump while staring at a toilet. Not very glamorous. This room is also on the other side of the building and 4 stories up, so it takes me about 5 minutes just to get there - then add 15 minutes of pumping time + 5 minutes to clean and put all of the pump parts away.

On my way back to my cube after pumping the first time, I noticed there was another large handicapped bathroom a lot closer to my cube. The floor next to the bathroom is empty, so I don't think it's used very often. So, for my second pumping, I just dragged 2 chairs into that bathroom and pumped in there. I figured if the lactation room is just a bathroom, I might as well use one that is closer to my cube so it takes less time. I was pretty happy with my find. Then for my third and last pumping of the day, I noticed that someone else had used this bathroom before me. I knew they had been in there because the light was on. I think I have discovered someones private bathroom. And for anyone that works in an office, you know how awesome it is to find a private bathroom. I'm sure they were surprised to see 2 chairs had magically shown up in their bathroom. I can only imagine what they think is going on in there when they aren't using it. :)

My assigned lactation consultant called me yesterday for my "Back to Work" consultation. I asked her how often women usually pump during the day. I explained that it takes me about 20-25 minutes between pumping, cleaning, etc. She told me that if I put the pump parts into the fridge after I used them, I didn't have to clean them each time and this would save time. I told her that the only fridge I had access to was a small dorm room sized fridge that was used by my whole department and that I didn't think it was appropriate to put my pump parts in there for all of the men in the department to have to look at. Besides the fact that this fridge usually smells of rotten food because people tend to forget their leftovers. Her response to this was that I should bring in a cooler and fill it with ice and set it under my desk. So, then I could just use this to store my pump parts. I told her that between my laptop bag, my purse, my pump, and my lunch that I carry into the office every day, I look like I am going on a week long excursion. I am not bringing in a cooler as well. Enough is enough.

Ahh, the joys of breastfeeding and going back to work.

Diapers & Pineapple

We had a very busy, but very nice weekend this past weekend. Saturday we went to the Inman Park Festival. We got there around 12:30, found ourselves a nice shady seat and delicious barbecue sandwiches. The Inman Park Festival is my favorite festival because of it's parade. The parade always has some crazy characters in it:

Including a very scary tooth fairy: (that is a molar hat on his head)

About 2 minutes into the parade, we realized we had forgotten how loud a parade can be. Poor Charlotte was sitting in the BOB with her little fists clenched. I tried to cover her ears, but that didn't really work. So, we started to head back to the car not long after the parade started. At the car I changed her diaper and put on her cute little dress to go meet her first friend, Cooper.

Allison and Michael invited us to their house Saturday night. On the way up to their house we stopped at Costco because we had a few minutes to kill. As usual, we bought very random things there. One pineapple and a book.

Allison and Michael also invited Ashley and David. Ashley and David have a son, Cooper who is 1 week older than Charlotte. It was a lot of fun seeing them together. Neither one really paid much attention to each other, though. I'm not sure what we thought they would do, maybe break out into a round of patty-cake - but they barely noticed they were in the room together. Except Charlotte did take a little peak:

Allison and Michael have a beautiful home up in Suwanee that they moved into this past winter. I think their master bedroom closet is bigger than Charlotte's nursery. I am extremely jealous of the storage that they have. Al has also done a really good job decorating the place. Dinner was great - it was a nice, relaxing evening.

Sunday I took Charlotte to have her 3 month pictures taken with Melissa. She was a very good girl, gave us plenty of smiles. I can't wait to see how they turned out. Then, Sunday evening we had our new neighbors over for dinner. I was pretty beat by the end of the weekend, so was Charlotte.

This morning Judd kissed me goodbye and headed down to the car to leave for work. I heard him come back into the house. I went downstairs and he was holding a pineapple in one hand and a dirty diaper in the other. Ooops. I guess we forgot to clean out the back of the car Saturday night. So, he drove to work in a car that smelled of diapers and pineapple.

Hard Work

Charlotte fell asleep during tummy time today. It wears her out.

Charlotte and I are enjoying our last day of maternity leave together today. I am spoiling her rotten today. She is taking naps on me today even though I have been trying to get her to nap in her crib. I told her she couldn't cry at all today. I will be working from home a couple of days a week, so, I will get to see her quite a bit throughout the week - but it still the end of a wonderful chapter in my life. I am not sure how I am going to leave this beautiful baby all day.

Flower Power & Bubble Gum

Ever since I put together Charlotte's birth announcement, I have been playing around with creating new ones. Here are two I've been working on.

This one was inspired by Ella & Emma's bedding (Bubble Gum):



This one was just for fun (Flower Power):


(the picture taken in this announcement was taken by Melissa Anne Photography)

Chillin'

Fun with Grammie

My mom is here this week for a few days. It has been a really nice visit. She watched Charlotte today while I was able to run a few errands. I got errands done in about half the time it would have taken me if I had had Charlotte in tow.

Yesterday we took Charlotte over to where she will be attending day care three days a week. The woman that is going to keep her is so nice, we'll call her "Nanny" for now as I don't want to post specifics on this blog. (trying to keep safety in mind) Nanny LOVED Charlotte and said she can't wait to keep her. I interviewed Nanny back in December when I was looking for a place for Charlotte. I liked her immediately and knew she would be loving. When she held Charlotte for the first time yesterday, I felt relieved. She seemed to truly care about her and thought she was the most wonderful baby. (this I already knew) Charlotte looked right up at her and gave her a big smile.

Here are a few pictures of Charlotte with her Grammie:

Busted Out

This is how I found Charlotte yesterday morning:

Showered

Erin was showered with gifts and love this past weekend in order to get her ready to bring these two beautiful girls home. (Ella on left, Emma on right)

The shower was hosted by Drena, Melissa, Meghan and me. Drena had it at her house. Drena has a beautiful home - I'm so jealous every time I go to her house. Judd and I always joke about how we don't have an "adult" house - that it still a jumble of hand-me-down furniture and there isn't really a true theme or style. There are only 4 windows in the house that have curtains and 3 or 4 walls that have "artwork". I do love my house and I am very proud of it, I just wish it were a little more put together at times. Oh well, all in good time I guess.

Back to the shower. Erin got some great stuff for the girls. One of my favorites was the humidifier that looked like a cow. Charlotte is going to be so jealous when she sees that at Ella and Emma's house, her humidifier is some boring one we picked up at CVS. I had a really nice time talking to everyone and just hanging out. After the shower, Drena, Melissa, Morgan, Meghan, and I went over to the hospital to see Ella and Emma. This was the first time I've seen them since they were born. They are just darling. After the hospital, everyone wanted to come over and see Charlotte - so we made our way to Decatur. After stop at our house, we went out to dinner. It was a great day.

You may be wondering where Charlotte was during all of this time. She was with Judd all day on Saturday. It was his first big day alone with Charlotte. He did great! He said that she let him have it for a half hour or so, but that was the only trouble she gave him. He says that when she screams she is screaming at him - and this really hurts his feelings. I assured him that she is just screaming, and not directing her anger at him, but he disagrees.

We're Back

We made it back to Atlanta Friday evening. We had a great trip back, Charlotte was a great baby. We traveled from 1pm until 9pm in planes, trains, and automobiles and she only cried for about 10 min the entire time. If she keeps these travel habits up, she'll probably get to see a lot of places!

We had a wonderful time in the Keys. The place we stayed couldn't have been more perfect for the kind of vacation we were looking for. Here is the link for the house: 1038 West Ocean Drive. There was a Publix and KMART about 4 miles from the house. We really were able to relax and enjoy ourselves. We ate in most meals, took lots of walks, went to the beach, watched movies, visited with Judd's parents, and played with Charlotte. The weather was wonderful, it didn't rain the entire time we were there.

Judd and I had a great time in Key West Thursday night. We went to visit all of our favorite places and then had dinner at Blue Heaven. It was really nice to be with him on a date. We are together a lot now, but I miss him. I miss him because Charlotte is usually there demanding my attention as well and I can't focus on just Judd. So, it was nice to have all of the focus on just us for a few hours. I think it will be important for us to make time as a couple moving forward.

Going to Key West on Thursday night was the longest I had been away from Charlotte since she was born. She did great while I was gone! She took 3 bottles in a row. She usually gets one bottle a day, so this was a big step. Judd's parents said she cried very little and went to bed without any problems. I was so happy she did so well.

Sadly, we packed up Friday morning and headed out around 1pm. We drove up to Florida City and stopped at "Robert Is Here" fruit stand. Judd read about it on some message boards. They are famous for their fruit milk shakes. I got the strawberry key lime milkshake. It was AWESOME! Judd thought we'd never each finish our own - after about 10 min, my straw was already sucking the bottom of the cup!

Here are some more pictures of the trip:

Visitors

Judd's parents got here yesterday. They have the same flight privileges that Judd and I have, just a lower priority. So, they flew here for free. They pulled up in style yesterday after upgrading to the convertible:

Judd and I are headed to Key West this afternoon for a night out on the town. I'm really looking forward to a little time alone with him. I bet Charlotte's gonna get a lot play time with her Grandaddy and Grandmother.

Lucky Enough

We had our own private beach yesterday. Guess all of the locals were working on a Monday.

There is a saying posted on a manatee mailbox on one of our walking routes here at Key Colony Beach:

"If you are lucky enough to be in the Keys, you are lucky enough."

Interestingly enough, this saying is posted along the route that goes from little houses, to obnoxiously large houses and you read it as you approach the large houses. I have to agree with the manatee - I'm one lucky girl.

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny...Bikini

We made it down to the Keys on Saturday. We ended up booking a sky miles ticket late Friday night as all of the flights looked to be oversold on Saturday. We left Atlanta around 10:30 and landed in Miami around 1pm. We rented a car and began the drive down Route 1 to Key Colony Beach. We had to stop a couple of times to feed Charlotte and feed ourselves, but she was a very good girl the whole trip. She didn't make a peep through the airport or on the plane. She did lose it for a little while when we were on Route 1. It took us about 45 minutes to go 3 miles because of a draw bridge. I ended up sitting in the back with her and entertaining her the rest of the way - that actually seemed to work to calm her down. We stopped at Robbie's to feed the tarpon as one of Charlotte's eating stops.

We got to the house around 4:45. The house is located in Key Colony Beach off of mile marker 53. Key Colony Beach is this little city (they have 5 police men) that is made up of a lot of canals. The house is very nice and right across the street from a private beach, Inch Beach. Our rental package included passes to this beach. When we got here, Judd went to the store and got some food for us as well as a cheap pack and play that Charlotte can sleep in.

Sunday morning we got up, Judd made coffee and we went out on our front porch and watched all of the morning walkers while we ate breakfast and drank our coffee. Charlotte slept for 45 min or so while we did this. Then we took a little walk around Key Colony Beach to check it out. We ended up going to the beach for an hour or so later that morning - Charlotte didn't like putting her toes in the water, but she did like sleeping in BOB on the beach.

Not sure what we have planned for today. We are having our coffee and breakfast now on the porch while I'm poaching Internet from the condos across the street. :)

Vacation

Judd and I are taking the little one to the Florida Keys for a week starting tomorrow. Since Judd works for Delta, we are going to non rev down to Florida tomorrow (Palm Beach, Miami, or Fort Lauderdale) and then drive to our destination near Marathon. Should be a fun, relaxing week. I hope tomorrow is not too stressful for us - say a little prayer that we get on a flight.

Just Love Her

I was trying to think of a good title for this post, but as I sat here and thought about how I could express my feelings, I couldn't come up with the words to really express how I felt - other than, I just love her - SO MUCH.

I actually got out of the house last night, by myself, to go to dinner with a bunch of our friends for Melissa's birthday. I had a really nice time talking to everyone and felt "normal" again for a little while. It was a beautiful night and we sat out on the porch at a Mexican restaurant. Pretty much my absolute favorite way to spend an evening - at least it used to be. But, then I realized on the way home, that my "normal" is much different than it used to be. Now my normal is feeding a baby every couple of hours, changing her diapers, playing with her on the floor, walking around the house bouncing her trying to calm her down, and looking like an idiot in Target because I'll do anything to keep her from crying. Then I realized that I really love this new normal. Now my favorite way to spend an evening is playing with her on her changing table and helping Judd put her to bed. I do get frustrated every day thinking about how independent I used to be and now I have this little 12 lb person that is so very dependent of me -but then she flashes me a smile like this one, and I just don't really care about anything else in the world but her.

Digital Scrapbooking

While I've been on maternity leave I have discovered Photoshop - and I'm in love. My first project was Charlotte's birth announcement. Since then I have been addicted to reading blogs of people who are into digital scrapbooking. Judd is a little concerned that he may never get to use the computer again. Here is a site I found last night, The Shabby Princess. This morning while Charlotte was swinging, I worked on one of the Shabby Princess's tutorials. Here is what came out of it:

BOB, the new man in our life

Charlotte and I went for our first run with BOB this morning. BOB is our new jogging stroller that Judd and I bought when Charlotte was born. The name of the brand is B.O.B. We bought the car seat adapter to go with him so we could begin using the stroller immediately. He is wonderful. BOB is so easy to control. He is very easy to turn and has great shocks so he doesn't bounce Charlotte around too much on the bumpy sidewalks. Up until today we had just used him for walking. Today I decided to see how hard BOB is to run with. I was having a hard time running 3 miles by myself - it was really hard to push and extra 40 lbs (23lbs for BOB+ 12lbs for Charlotte + 5 lbs for the carseat) and run 3 miles. But, I made it. Charlotte talked to me for the first half and then slept. All and all it was a good experience and I think we'll definately be runnng buddies from now on!

My new travel buddy

Charlotte and I have been on the road since last Thursday. We flew up to Pennsylvania to visit Grammie, Grandad, and Aunt Sally. We had a very nice time. We took Charlotte over to Grandad's office so he could show her off to everyone there. He seems to like her:

We went for walks, over to see Great-Grammie, and read books with Aunt Sally:

We got back on Saturday and spent some time with Judd Saturday night and Sunday. Then, Charlotte and I drove to south Georgia Sunday evening to spend time with the Davis'. We had a nice time visiting with Grandmother, Grandaddy, Aunt Emily, Lilly, and Aunt Pam. Lilly is the cutest little kid who says the funniest things. I sneezed at the dinner table and she told me I "sneezed like a squirrel". She got a scrape on her leg while riding on her scooter and asked Emily "When will it be like God made it?". She even told Charlotte that she could play in her closet at home when she was bigger - this was a huge step for Lilly - considering she would barely look at Charlotte the last time they were together. We drove back home today.

Charlotte did very well considering she has slept in 3 different cribs over the past 5 nights. She travels better on the plane than the car. I think it is because I can hold her the whole time. She really doesn't like being in her car seat and usually lets me know it through parts of the trip.

Cutie Pie

She must be one, her shirt says so.

Happy 2 Months - Here's 4 Shots!

Charlotte had her 2 month checkup today and had to get 4 shots. She handled it pretty well, Judd was able to calm her down in about 2 minutes. Poor baby, it is just so sad to watch.

Here are her 2 month stats:

Weight: 11 pounds 12 ounces - 75%

Length: 23.5 inches - 90%

Head: 15.5 inches



Here is her 2 month picture on the right, 1 month picture on the left

One Month	Two Months