Me, a morning person???

For the first 12-weeks of Aurora’s life, I kept a journal of her feeding times, along with how long she ate, if she was fussy, if she spit up a lot, etc. She's gone from 2-1/2 to 4 hours between meals, and writing it down has helped me keep track so I could plan our days accordingly.

Our routine quickly changed once I went back to work, and I’ve decided that I no longer need to write it down. As if that isn’t shocking enough, the most surprising part of our new schedule is that I have decided I’m going to be a morning person. I will be waking up everyday at 6am. Try telling that to pregnant Amber 4 months ago and she’d laugh in your face while yawning after 10 hours of sleep! I mean, seriously, since when does 6am seem like a perfectly acceptable time to wake up!? I’m pretty sure this is something that only happens once you’ve cared for a newborn.

Aurora's been waking up at around 6am for awhile now, but I just feed her and we all snooze for awhile longer before waking up at oh, 8 or 9am. My new goal to get out the door by 8am (the earlier the better), work from around 8:30-4:30 (she’ll take bottles and I'll pump at 10am and 2pm), and have her home by 5pm. Then we can have dinner, play for a couple of hours, feed her and have her asleep by 9:00pm.

That’s right people – you did the math right. Aurora is sleeping 9 hours straight and now she only eats 5 times per day. What a change from her first month of life!!!

As great as this schedule is (and trust me, it’s great), I still feel like I’m just rushing around like a frazzled mad-woman this week. Work seems extremely hectic right now; trying to resume my old job, taking on the intern program, and making it to the pumping room on time. Even with Bailey and Brittany helping SO much, the days are just flying by with hardly a moment to check my emails. Once Aurora goes to sleep, I have just enough time and energy to go online for awhile, do the dishes, and repack all of our bags for another day.

I haven’t had time to take new pictures this week, but I knew you’d protest if I tried posting two blogs in a row with no photos! I mean, who REALLY comes here to learn about our eating schedule?? So, here are two cute pics from last weekend. Rora in her exersaucer, to which we've added a thick book so her little feet can touch the bottom!

And a super scrunched up sweetie with monkey toes. Enjoy :)

Daycare Begins

All weekend I felt so conflicted about going back to work. The whole time I was pregnant, and even after my first month of maternity leave, I was so sure that I was going to have no problem leaving Aurora at daycare. Then suddenly I went from being excited to nervous to completely unsure about the decision.

I couldn’t sleep at all last night. I tossed and turned, wondering when Rora would wake up, if I should feed her once or twice before dropping her off, or maybe give her a feeding at daycare. I worried about how her feedings would go, if they'd be able to respond to her cues, if she’d have any gassy crying fits, if they'd play with her or if she'd be bored, what it would be like to pump at work, and how early I should leave work to go get her. I decided Aurora must worrying about the same things when she woke up at 3:30am, so I decided to bring her into our bed to snuggle with me for a few hours. It was the best sleep either of us got all night!

At around 7am, I got up, showered, got dressed, and had breakfast just like any other work day. Chuck & I left at 8:30am to drop Aurora at daycare together, and I decided I’d go ahead and feed her there, just so that we could spend more time together and she could acclimate to eating at daycare. About halfway through her feeding, she didn’t just spit up, she projectile vomited all over me! I managed to clean up, fill out the daily paperwork, say goodbye, and get to work around 9:30am.

It was strange how natural being back at work was. It felt almost as though the last three months were a time warp; except that Daniela’s gone, Kelsey’s on vacation, Bailey’s my new office mate, and I had to find places to pump at Noon and 3pm. I was unbelievably tired after getting so little sleep, but after awhile, everything started coming back to me.

I left just before 5pm to pick up Aurora. She was napping when I arrived, and Cayte said she took both of her bottles great, took long naps, and was a happy baby. She gave me the daily report and said they had a good time. Once we got home, I still had a few hours to play, feed, and hang out with her before putting her to bed.

Tomorrow will be completely different – we have dentist appointments in the morning, then Chuck will be watching Aurora all afternoon. We’ll see how that goes, but so far, so good!

Anniversaries

These last 12-weeks have gone by so quickly. But it’s not just the last few months that have flown by. Yesterday was my 2 year anniversary working for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and today Chuck and I celebrate our 11 year wedding anniversary. Here we are on our wedding day - July 12, 1997 - only 19 and 20 years old!

Today also marks exactly one year that I’ve been blogging, which means it’s been just about exactly a year since Aurora was conceived. And, it was a year ago today that I last cut my hair. That's a strange thing to remember (perhaps wierder that I’ve gone a year without a haircut), but I cut it pretty short last year on our anniversary, sort of on a whim. I decided that for Chuck’s anniversary gift I’d come home a different woman! This year I cut it on our anniversary again, but for a different reason. I needed a new look for going back to work on Monday. I’ve been wearing a pony tail everyday lately, and it was time to update my style.

Here's my before and after. I tried to do it like a makeover show: before the haircut, I’m boring and frumpy. Afterwards, I’m a hip, happy Momma!

Happy Anniversary sweetie! Every year gets better and better, and I can't imagine my life any other way.

Leaving maternity leave

We’ve been trying to make the most of our last week of maternity leave. I took both cars in for oil changes, got new tires on the Element, got a pedicure, and I'll be getting a haircut soon. This week we visited Brooke and her sweet twins, spent some time with our friend Nicolette, and last night our friends Barbara & Billy invited us over for a home cooked meal. And of course, Aurora's been practicing her standing skills!

Earlier in the week we also went in to the Children’s Center of Austin to turn in Aurora’s paperwork. They invited us to come spend a couple hours in the “lambs” room together this week, just to become acquainted with the daycare environment. So, we did that this morning.

There are 3 caregivers in her room; Cayte, Carol, and Celia. Together, they were watching 6 babies. Technically the ratio is 4:1, but some of the babies are M/W/F or T/Th, and the three “teachers” stagger their start, end, and lunchtimes (I just happened to be there during an hour when they were all together).

I gathered and labeled all of Aurora’s daycare supplies and we brought those with us this morning. These included: diapers, wipes, changes of clothes, bibs, two sheets and a mattress pad. They set up her crib while I was there and I put her in it, but she didn't seem to love it. Yikes!

On Monday I'll also need to bring in bottles. I’ve been pumping almost every day since my milk came in, just for my own comfort. Once Aurora began taking a nightly bottle from Chuck, I started pumping regularly before bed. I’ve been producing about 8 oz each night, while she only drinks 4 oz at a sitting. This has added up to huge stock pile of milk. Believe it or not, I now have around 50 bags of milk in the freezer!

Frozen breast milk is good for 3-4 months, and of course, I’ll continue to pump at work to replenish whatever supply we use. So, you may be wondering, how will we ever use all this milk?! Well, I'll be able to send her to daycare with a week's worth of frozen milk at a time, which is very convenient - and if she starts drinking more than 4 oz at each feeding, we have extra. In a couple of months when she starts eating solids, we can mix her oatmeal and rice with my milk instead of formula. That'll be nice.

But, starting Monday it's a whole new schedule and a whole new life as a working mom. I know it won't be easy, and the daycare providers will never take care of her like I would, but I'm hoping it will be a good experience for all of us.

Seafood Boil

Yesterday we got to enjoy a seafood boil with Chuck’s co-workers to celebrate the long weekend. I have to say, it wasn’t Aurora’s finest social engagement. She was a little fussy the whole time. It seemed like she was tired and hungry, but she didn’t want to sleep and refused to eat. We all still had a great time.

Here's dad with a craw-dad. Aurora seems more interested in the other kids playing soccer in the yard.

After eating tons of food, we all went inside to play Rock Band. Chuck & I took turns playing and holding the baby. I played bass, then he played guitar, then I sang. It was great!

4th of July

We had a pretty fun Independence Day at the Wadey house. We stuck to our normal schedule, but Chuck gave Aurora her evening bottle out on the balcony, where she could see and hear fireworks all around our neighborhood and along the horizon. She had a little trouble sleeping with all the loud booms coming from across the street, but once she drifted off, Chuck & I sat on the balcony together drinking mojito's and enjoying the view - just like old times.

We both agree that our lives don't seem as changed as we expected them to be, and that so far, parenting isn't necessarily the "hardest" job, it's just non-stop. Chuck said that until now, babies he saw seemed to be frozen in a perpetual state of baby-ness. But with Aurora, he realizes that babyhood is just a phase that she'll grow out of before we know it.

Nancy just mailed us a beautiful picture of Chuck at 3-months old (going through his baby phase), and my mom sent me this photo of me at 10-months old. When I see these next to each other, I do think Aurora is a good mix of both of us:

Daniela’s last day

Today we went in to the LAF to say goodbye to my friend and office mate as she moves on to a new job.

Daniela is such a generous and caring person, and she’s changed so many lives in the past 6-1/2 years at the LAF. Through the volunteer and intern programs and as our recruiter, she's brought people on board who will continue making a difference in the world of cancer for years to come. She hired me, and has supported me every step of the way these past 2 years, both in my career and life.

Daniela was the first one I told I was pregnant (sorry mom and dad!). She hosted my baby shower and organized the schedule for people to bring us food after Aurora was born. Apparently, having me gone these past 11 weeks was too much for her to bear, so she’s leaving.

Seriously, it was time for her to move on to bigger and better things, and we’re thrilled for her. Thanks for everything Daniela – you may be starting a new job, but you won’t get rid of us that easily!!!

We love you!

Treasures

It's always fun receiving treasure in the mail. In the weeks before and after Aurora's birth, we got packages and cards almost every day - it was insane, but so much fun. Lately our president has been generously sending treasures our way. Yesterday it was our stimulus check, and today we got Aurora's welcome letter.

As you may recall, we sent away for a baby welcome letter from the White House (as mentioned in this blog post) just after Rora was born. It arrived in a very nice envelope, with Aurora's name and address handwritten. The letter itself isn't customized (and I'm not convinced GWB or Laura actually signed it), but it's still cool!

We also got a really neat package from my friend Pam in California. Pam and I met in a physiology class together at Glendale Community College. She took me to get my first pedicure AND she treated me my first eyebrow wax. Yes, if it weren't for her I may still have wild eyebrows and icky toenails. I also babysat her kids, who are such sweet boys. I miss them! Anyway, they sent us a custom embroidered towel along with baby bubble bath! I put the towel in the guest bathroom (which will be Aurora's bathroom), and it matches the decor perfectly.

A couple of weeks ago, my brother's wife's parents sent us a silver sippy cup with Aurora's name and birthday beautifully engraved (along with a Blueberry-themed beach ball). Such unique custom gifts!!!

Thanks Carol & John, Pammi, and George W. Bush!

Baby Talk

Lately Aurora’s been testing out her vocal abilities with all kinds of cute new sounds! Suddenly she can squeal, squeak, sigh, lull, coo and ah-goo with the best of ‘em. She definitely tries to mimic us, both with the length of words and their intonation.

Here’s an extremely short video I took today. I would’ve kept recording, but my camera ran out of space. Hopefully that’ll make it easy for my parents to view (they have dial-up, gasp!). Be sure you turn the volume up - if you listen closely, I swear she’s saying “Aurora and Daddy” Ha!

Mommy 101

I wanted to dedicate this blog to all the mommy’s who have shared their knowledge with me. It’s true that babies don’t come with instruction manuals, but so many people have given me the tips and tricks that have gotten us through to where we are today.

To Julie, for recommending Baby Wise, The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD, and the Hooter Hider.

To Kristen, for telling me about My Brest Friend and the double pump halter top.

To Natalie, for giving us the Miracle Swaddler.

To Amy, for lending me What to Expect the First Year (and recommending just about everything that was on my registry).

These make up my own personal Mommy 101 Instruction Manual. Of course, every baby (and every mommy) is different, and as of today I’ve had 10 full weeks of hands-on Rora training as well!

Tummy Time

Rora’s starting to like tummy time more than she used to. This morning I had her on her tummy, and she actually rolled on to her back! For a little while now, she has been rolling from her back onto her side. I know neither of those officially count as “rolling over” (I think she has to go from her back to her tummy for that), but it’s neat to see her getting so much stronger, and it's great that she's started enjoying herself even when she isn't being held.

Go to your room!

For the past few weeks, Aurora’s been sleeping 6-8 hours per night in her pack ‘n’ play bassinet at the foot of our bed. Having her in our room has been great because we can hear every noise she makes. It’s not so great because she can hear every noise we make, and every noise the cat makes. Turns out, the only one who refuses to sleep through the night around here these days is Tater. She wakes me up at 5am, and then I lay there listening to the baby’s noises, hoping she doesn’t wake up too.

Here's how we've had our bedroom set-up:

My goal was to have her sleeping through the night in her crib in the nursery by the time I go back to work, and while I have about 3-weeks of maternity leave left, she’s been doing so well that we decided it was time to make the move. So, this weekend Aurora slept soundly in her own room for almost 8 hours each night, while the cat woke me up even more than usual. Saturday night I think Tater figured Aurora was gone, so she wanted to purr all night to thank me for choosing her. She was sorely disappointed when I brought a hungry baby back into our bedroom at 6am for a feeding.

Yesterday the pack ‘n’ play made its way downstairs, where we will be glad to have a nap spot and changing station, but it’s strange having our bedroom back to normal. As difficult as that first month of multiple middle of the night feedings was, and as happy as I am to have a baby who sleeps so well, it's a strange feeling having her graduate into her own room... I guess it's time to have another baby! Okay, not really.

Here are a couple of nice photos from yesterday’s breakfast at Tacodeli with Amelia & Patrick. It was a beautiful, albeit very hot day.