Another growth spurt

Remember that book we kept at the bottom of the exersaucer so Aurora’s feet could touch? Well, last weekend I noticed that suddenly her knees were bent more than usual. I said “Chuck, take the book away,” and amazingly, her feet touched! The next day when I dropped her at daycare, the first thing Carol said when I handed her over was “I think she’s gotten bigger!” And once again, her diapers now fit more snugly.

Earlier in the week I weighed her in one of the least accurate ways possible – weighing myself with and without her on my cheap IKEA scale that measures in 2 lb increments. According to this method, she’s at least 14 lbs now!

Look at this big silly girl. She doesn’t really know what to think of hats yet… I think she’s trying to wriggle herself out of it.

Aside from rolling over (which she especially loves to work on when she’s on the changing table or in her little bathtub), she’s also started laughing out loud. She thinks it’s hilarious when her daddy sings the ABC’s and when I talk or sing in silly voices. She especially loves when I roll my R’s.

Looking on the bright side

As hard as it is to leave Aurora at daycare, I know there are benefits to her being there. At least that’s what I tell myself to make me feel better about it! Daycare introduces her to new faces and textures and sounds, teaches her to feel comfortable around other people, and allows her to play with new toys and other babies. She takes good long naps there, and is exposed to germs which should strengthen her immunity.

She's also getting more mat time and tummy time than she'd get here at home, which is nice because right now her major focus is on rolling over. At first her arm was getting in the way and she'd get stuck on her side. Today in yoga I gently helped her tuck that arm a few times, and now she can do it herself! Here's a blurry motion shot:

Another benefit to daycare is that it makes us miss her enough that we appreciate our time with her that much more. When I get her home, I tell her what Natalie’s 2-year old daughter says when Natalie goes out of town… “I missed you too much!” Who wouldn't miss this smile?

Oh baby, the places you’ll sit

Today we put Aurora’s high chair together. Nancy & Steve brought it with them from Arizona when they visited months ago, and we decided she should be able to fit into it by now. She does!

She thought it was fun at first, but got bored when she realized it didn't actually do anything. So we decided to put her in the jogger stroller that Pam & Chad gave us and took a long walk around the neighborhood (another first). A much more interesting place to sit!

She can’t sit up on her own just yet, but she's strong enough now that strapped in her seats she does fine!

Daddy-daughter time

I really love our Tuesday and Thursday half days. I work a half day, and while I’m working Chuck and Aurora have daddy-daughter time. Chuck always says the funniest things when I call him on my way home. Last week we had a phone conversation that went something like this:

Hiya Charlie, did you guys have a good day?
Yup.
Are you taking a nap?
Nope.
Is Aurora taking a nap?
Nope.
What’s she doing?
Just breathing.

Oh yeah?!?! Yesterday our conversation went like this:

Hey babe, did you guys have a fun day?
Yeah.
Did anything exciting happen?
Yeah, Aurora said her first word.
Oh really? And what was that?
Michael.

Daniela asked me if Chuck knows how funny he is. I’m not sure, but he does know how to make me laugh! And he also knows how to make his daughter smile :)

Adventures in baby feeding

What? Another post about feeding Aurora!? Who would’ve thought even a few short months ago that my world would now revolve around feedings? But here we are once again, discussing my favorite topic.

Last night I did what I thought was a thorough job of getting ready for today. I sterilized my pump accessories and got my pumping bag ready; refilled the daycare diaper bag with clean bibs, sheets, clothes, and a bottle; packed my work bag and got a few things ready to mail. Once again, I lost sleep wondering how this week of daycare would go.

This morning, I felt the need to pump a little earlier than 10am. At 9:30 I headed into the pumping room (an office down the hall that has a lock) and started setting up, only to realize I was missing one of my pump parts! I quickly put everything back, grabbed my purse, and called the daycare to let them know I’d be there at 10am to feed Aurora myself. I ran home, grabbed the pump piece and my nursing pillow, then made my way to the Children’s Center in record time (traffic is great at 10am).

As hectic as it seemed, it was really nice spending the extra time with Aurora. As I fed her, Carol told me how long she breastfed each of her 4 children; Shelby (for 10 weeks), Savannah (3-1/2 years), Montana (almost 2 years), and Rebekah (7 months); and how Rebekah was going to be named Hannah, but she changed her mind at the last minute. Then I rushed back to work.

One of my co-workers had her son at the same daycare center and actually drove back and forth for every feeding. He had never been bottle fed when he started and wouldn’t take a bottle. I can’t imagine. Just trying to make it to the pumping room on time is hard enough. This was (hopefully) a one time occurance for us.

But just look at this cute little girl, wearing a terry cloth outfit after her weekend bath. I think she's worth all the craziness.

Hold me...

I'm 3 months old today!

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: