3 months

2 months	3 months

No doctors appointment at 3 months, so I don't have any stats. She is such a good baby. She is really trying to roll over now. It seems that every time we put her down she is rolling over onto her side, then gets very frustrated because she can't get all the way over.

She had a little story time with Dad tonight...she just LOVES her Dad. She and Judd had a 10 min conversation the other night. Judd would babble to her, then she would babble right back to him.

I'm in heaven

I'm sure most of you came here today to see the 3 month picture of Charlotte, and the comparison shot between 2 months and 3 months. Don't worry, I'll post that later tonight.

For now I want to tell you about my very exciting discovery. You may recall from this post, that my pumping environment at the office has not been the nicest. Today I decided to seek out the 2nd lactation room in the building - it is WONDERFUL!! It is a nice private room (no windows) that has a big sink and counter to clean all of the pump parts. There is a nice table with a comfortable chair. In one corner there is a bookcase with books about breastfeeding and going back to work. On the wall is a bulletin board where you can post a picture of your baby. Also, the first woman that used the room started a journal for all of the mothers that use the room. So, everyone writes while they pump about their experiences as a working mother. I read it today while I pumped and the pumping session just flew by!

I'm also the only one that is using this room for the next week. The other woman that has been using it is out of town. So, I can just keep my pump down there and not have to carry it back and forth.

I was really dreading pumping at work the last couple of days, this makes the experience so much better - I think I can really make it to my goal of breastfeeding for 6 months.

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'