I promise I'm not a negligent mommy!

So hard to sit and sneeze at once!, originally uploaded by jenski33.

Sometimes it is really hard to do two things at once. Like sitting up and sneezing at the same time.

Daughter of mine...

We have been reading to Alex since the beginning, but she usually starts to get cranky as soon as I put her on my lap and open a book. I think it has to do with nursing because we always sit in the rocking chair to nurse. So when I just want to hold her and read to her in the rocking chair, she starts to look for food, if you know what I mean.
So I tried a little combo tummy-time with reading time, and she loved it!

I hope she grows to have a love of reading like I do. Extra points to whomever can name the book that she is reading! :)

1st Quarter Update

Alexandra is 3 months old today! Since I'm back to work now, let's keep the theme going with 'business-lingo.' Here is her 1st Quarter Summary. (chuckle chuckle)

-Alex still has blue eyes. Sometimes they look slightly grey, but they seem to have gotten lighter in the last couple weeks. We can't tell if she is going to have Dad's hazel eyes, Mom's green eyes, or Grandma's blue eyes. -We still have a great sleeper on our hands. She takes 4 short naps during the day and sleeps 12 hours straight every night. Can we all say a HALLELUJAH to that one?!
-She can hold her head up (for the most part). She doesn't love tummy time, but she tolerates it for a little while.
-Her favorite time of day is BATH TIME! She kicks and splashes and squeals through it, but it also gets her relaxed and ready for bed. Sometimes she just falls asleep in the bath! :)
-She still has reflux issues, but the medicine and dairy-free diet has helped her tremendously.

-Her favorite toy is her Nemo fish. And she is fascinated with her feet!

-She doesn't cry as often. Even her car-rides (which used to involve continuous screaming) have gotten quieter lately.

I feel like we are getting to know her personality already. She has so many expressions and reactions to us, and I can just picture the thoughts going through her mind! She has added such joy to our lives. Happy 3 months, baby girl!

Thumb-lover!

My first 2 days at work went well. I woke up at 2 am on the first day and couldn't get back to sleep because I was so anxious about it, but after I left the house and shed a couple tears, I was just fine. (Very tired, but fine.) And Alex did great with her Daddy and Gamma too. Of course it helped me that we were in a sales meeting for half the day followed by a team-building bowling outing in the afternoon--not exactly a grueling work-day by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a nice way to ease back into work.

I did have to break my own rule when I left the house though. Normally when Rich leaves for work around 5 a.m., he wants to go and kiss Alex good-bye, but I always ask him not to so that he doesn't wake her (and I can sleep in too!). Selfish of me, I know, but his little 2 second goodbye kiss costs me a couple hours of valuable sleep! On my first day of work, he suggested that I wake her up before I left so that I could get in my snuggle fix. Thanks hubby!

When I went into get her, here is what I discovered:

We put her to sleep in the parallel position, and she managed to wiggle her way around the crib on her back!

And look who found her thumb!

Uh-oh, braces here we come!

Back to work...

Today is my last day of maternity leave. Twelve weeks ago, I was in labor. Somewhere between then and now, life has changed a bit.

I'm sure every mom who goes back to work (outside the home) has this feeling of dread. I will be fine, but I am a little panicked at the idea of being away from Alex for 8 hours. Tomorrow will be the longest I've ever been apart from her. Maybe I should have done a trial run before the big day!

I work for one of the best employers--they have a "bridge-back" program from maternity leave that allows moms to ease back into working full-time. So for the next 9 weeks I will be part-time, starting at 2 days per week for the first 3 weeks, then moving to 3 days for the next 3 weeks, and 4 days per week for the last 3 weeks. I am so lucky!

I'm going to break all the rules today and rock Alex to sleep for every nap, hold her while she sleeps, and spoil her rotten!

You cannot contain me!

This is what Alex looks like when we put her to bed.
Besides having the prettiest baby smile you've ever seen, notice how she is swaddled. We have used this swaddle since we came home from the hospital, and it is awesome because it has velcro tabs to keep her snugly wrapped. It helped her sleep really well, especially in the beginning, when her arms would flail in her sleep and she would wake up by hitting herself in the head.

Now when we go get her in the morning, this is how she looks.

(Disregard the change in sheets. No, she hasn't learned how to change her sheets yet. These were taken on separate days.) Our super baby manages to bust out of her swaddle now. This is no small feat, because the velcro is very strong!

It is quite comical to watch her do it in the video monitor. She starts moving her shoulders up and down, grunting as she works on pulling her hands out. It takes at least 15 minutes, and she never cries during the process. Then when her arms are free, she lets out a little yell to us, saying "Hey, I'm awake. Come get me!"