Sunday, March 24, 2013

Back to Work

It's been a little quiet on the blog because last Friday the 15th was my first day back at work. I had every good intention of doing a "dry run" like what I did with Amaya, but sleeping in was a much higher priority.

I had mixed feelings returning to work. While I would miss Amaya and Weston tremendously, I was more anxious about catching up at work than I was leaving them with my parents. I was put on bedrest in the beginning of November, so it had been nearly 5 months since I had given an allergy shot... done a skin test... performed a breathing test... administered peanut butter to an allergic kiddo with the hopes of outgrowing an allergy. I was terrified of opening up my e-mail - I ended up having 893 e-mails to weed through, delete, sort, mark as high priority, and add things to my "to-do" list. I was behind on my online and paper competencies (12 tests!!) I was delinquent on my TB test and at risk of suspension without pay (my supervisor handled that one!). My yearly evaluation with my supervisor was 3 months past due. Oye... plus all the meeting minutes that needed to be read, policy changes, etc...

My supervisor is absolutely phenomenal and decided to just spend my first day back catching up on e-mail and competencies. And she even made scrumptious Special K Bars to welcome me back and get me through the day! This past week, I worked Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and was able to get everything done on my list and my supervisor's list. It is wonderful being back with my "work sisters," but I still haven't quite caught up with everything going on in their personal lives. A lot happens in 5 months! And I was surprised that I missed my patients a lot more than I thought I would. I had forgotten several passwords, but most everything feels like second nature now. Overall, it's great to be back!

Of course, I miss Amaya and Weston... I had gotten into a nice little routine at home dropping Amaya off at preschool, going out to coffee with Jen, cuddling with Weston, playing Barbies, Polly Pockets, or babies with Amaya. Now we're all settling into a different routine. It's very different, but good.

Working part-time has been a good balance for me... While I would still LOVE to be home full-time... being away from Amaya and Weston makes me a better mom when I am with them. Our time together is much more special and I cherish every moment with them.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Transition to the Crib

Since having Weston, one of the most frequently asked questions we receive is: " Are you getting any sleep?" Yes, we are getting sleep. Enough sleep? Absolutely not!

Weston has been a much better sleeper than Amaya was at this age, although Amaya was sleeping through the night by now with the exception of a feeding at 3am. Steve paced and paced with Amaya to soothe her and she took a lot of her naps in the car seat until she'd wake up 30 minutes later, then I'd rock her back to sleep. Aside from some gas pain that makes him a little fussy, Weston typically will go right to sleep, wake up to eat and then go right back to sleep. No pacing and no rocking. Of course, he rather be sleeping in someone's arms and on his tummy! He's been usually going to sleep between 9-10pm and we can usually get anywhere from 4-6 hours from him. Then he's ready to eat anywhere from 5-7:30am. It's not the best schedule, but at least he's content falling back asleep in the bassinet. Just as Steve and I were beginning to get some better sleep, we changed things up with little Wes and unfortunately, it's been a little bit of a challenge getting our good little sleeper to sleep.

Saturday night, we decided since he was quickly outgrowing the bassinet, we should transition him to the crib. Plus, with me going back to work in 2 weeks, we figured it would be best to transition him now. We were hoping the transition would be as smooth with Amaya (that's when she started sleeping through the night), but as we are quickly learning, every child is different. The first night, he had difficulty settling down because he had a big gas bubble - unfortunately, we didn't realize that until a half an hour later when he finally burped. Once he got that gas bubble out, he was able to sleep. Then he was awake from 2-4am.  I fed him right away at 2am and thought he was done... surely after 40 minutes, he should be full! But after crying for another half an hour (us thinking it was gas pain), he wanted to eat AGAIN! (And I'm still nursing on demand and not on a schedule...yet) So... another 40 minutes or so... he was finally in a deep "milk induced coma." He slept until about 7:30am. Overall, an ok night - we all survived and managed through Sunday with some caffeine and a cat nap.

Last night, I thought for sure he would be exhausted from all the activity at my parent's house. He had only slept an hour or so in my brother's arms in the evening, so surely he would eat one more time and then conk out. WRONG! Little man was WIDE awake after eating at 9pm, so we watched Iron Chef - he got drowsy - we put him to bed - he woke up mad - I held him and we watched the news - he got drowsy - we put him to bed - he woke up mad and wanted to eat AGAIN! Then around 11:15pm, he was finally ready to sleep. He woke up around 2:30am to eat, took a little bit for him to settle down when he was done at 3:10am and woke up again to eat at 6:30am. Fortunately, I was able to get him to sleep a little longer in bed with me... I know, I know... I should have put him back in the crib, but I'll admit, I kinda like snuggling with him! I got up at 7:30am to get ready and get Amaya off to school. We got some snow last night, so my parent's graciously offered to take her to school so I wouldn't have to deal with the snow and bring Weston out in it. Little Wes, slept until 8:40am to say hello to my parents when they picked up Amaya. And now, after a bath and his breakfast... he's sleeping in the crib...

So... are we getting any sleep? Yes... is it enough... no. But, we're making progress (I hope!). It would be so much easier to hold him all the time and rock him to sleep... but little man needs to learn to fall asleep on his own without help from Mom and Dad. It'll make our life a lot easier in the long run. Short term pain for long term gain, right? So next time you see us, you may offer us a cup of coffee - the stronger the better!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Valentine's Day

It felt more like Valentine's WEEK more than Valentine's DAY, which was ok with me because I love Valentine's Day.

 Amaya celebrated Valentine's Day in preschool on Wednesday. They made bags in class and then passed out valentines to everyone in the class. Amaya chose to pass out NERDs valentines. Wonder where she got that idea? (Her daddy LOVES Nerds!)


Amaya and all her loot!




On Valentine's Day, I woke Amaya up and served her a special Valentine's Day breakfast.


 Pink heart shaped toast, pink milk, and strawberries


On Pinterest, I saw this super cute idea of putting on bright lipstick and kissing your baby and posting a sign next to him saying, "Kisses 25 cents." Normally, I have great success with my Pinterest projects, but this was a epic fail... it just looks like Weston has a bad rash. Oh, well... we made memories!

 

Amaya and I had grand plans of doing a Valentine's Day craft, making cupcakes, and making a special Valentine's Day lunch, but we ran out of time. I had to run in to work to drop off a baby gift for a coworker, and we ended up staying for 2 hours. So, we ended up going through drive through at Burger King and spent the rest of the afternoon playing.  

That evening when Steve got home, we opened up cards and presents.

 

Amaya got some Hello Kitty bracelets and Hello Kitty jelly beans.

 

Weston got a Valentine's Day Book - he's thrilled about it, can't you tell?!?

 

Steve and I exchanged cards too and were planning a date night once we knew Weston would take a bottle. (We ended up celebrating last Friday night! We went to AppleBee's and then to a movie. It was wonderful to reconnect and spend some time together without the kiddos. And Weston did wonderful at Grandma's house!)

On Friday the 15th, Weston took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, so Amaya and I made cupcakes and brownies. I also made some Baked Potato Soup and rolls to bring to our friend Nancy. 


It had been awhile since Amaya and I had baked together, so we had a blast as she frosted and put sprinkles on the cupcakes!


We saved a few cupcakes and brownies to keep at home, but brought most over to Nancy's house later that afternoon.

 

 

One of my favorite things about Amaya is her generous spirit. As we brought the meal and treats over to Nancy's house, she said, "We need to help more people like they helped us out. Jesus would like that." I agree Amaya... you catch on fast, sweet girl. Jesus does like that.