What a Long Week!

Wow... could not have been a longer week, I'm pretty sure! This week begun with an all day meeting at work plus business dinner, followed by 3 days of a work conference, then yesterday we went out with friends to see a comedian! It wasn't necessarily a bad week, just pretty insane!

So because of my crazy work week, and my torn feelings I've had lately, I decided to wean Jack. Emotionally it was definitely tough, being away from my baby boy and not even feeling that connection of nursing (even through pumping I could feel that connection); not to mention physically exhausting still trying to pump a little bit so I wasn't miserable! I've been giving him his bottles a lot over the past couple of days, so that has helped me get some snuggle time in with my baby boy.

Yesterday, I took the afternoon off so I could spend some time with Jack before our night out with friends. Jack actually spent the night with my parents last night and Matt & I stayed downtown at a hotel. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was especially tough because of not getting to see him much this week.

Today was a blast! We had some friends & their kids over for fun and pizza! It had been a while since we all got together with the kids, and it was really fun to get to see Jack interact with all of the kids. He definitely sat there for a while when all the kids got here and took it all in... took him a little while to warm up to it! I guess its just a test run to run with the big dogs before his cousins come to visit in a couple of weeks! There was minimal crying and swatting of others, and surprisingly he did okay sharing his toys, haha!

I did mention going on a business dinner earlier this week... after the craziness that was this week, I decided to amend my Lenten sacrifice. I know it may be cheating, but I realized that I couldn't simply not eat at my conference or skip out at business events. I am still sticking to making sure to take my lunch to work and will be adding the goal of working out (probably using the Wii Fit for 30 minutes) 4 times a week. I hope I can keep up with the Wii, I always feel better after working out but have a hard time staying motivated. I am in a wedding next fall and summer is coming up so I'd like to be in a little bit of better shape before getting into a swimsuit or bridesmaid dress!

In other news, please pray for the victims of the earthquake in Chile. My boss is from Chile and still has family there so I am sure he is very worried and I hope he will be able to get a hold of family and friends to make sure they're okay.

New Furniture for the New House!

Here are some pictures of our new furniture!

Our bedroom suite (bed, chest and dresser + mirror)!

The bed and nightstand (we will have 2, but they noticed one had a crack so they didn't even bother bringing it in, the replacement one should be here later this week).

Our new super comfy couch (with Jack in his carseat in the bottom right carseat)!

Our recliner, I love it because it doesn't look like a La-Z-Boy (no thing on the side), but I can still put my feet up without taking up as much room as a chair with ottoman (a must with our small house).

Friday Fill-ins!

1. Johnny Weir is a character, but good at what he does.
2. Every night this week I've been watching the 2010 Olympics.
3. And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was minimal, that is the day spring begun.
4. Giving up something for Lent helps one exercise your self-control if you get an urge.
5. Having sweet dreams of warmer weather and seeing all 2-3 feet of this snow melt away.
6. What does it take for me to get motivated?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting our bedroom and living cleaned up, tomorrow my plans include getting new furniture & going to the Home Improvement show with my parents and Sunday, I want to relax and get our bedroom set-up!

Ash Wednesday!

Happy Lent to all those who observe. This year Matt & I are giving up eating out/ordering take-out for Lent. We did it 2 years ago and it was tough but worth it! Since we've moved and the holidays, we've been bad about picking up dinner and lunch whenever we got too tired. I hope this will also help me get better at planning our meals, which has been extremely difficult for me since Jack was born.

In other happenings, things have been CRAZY busy for me! I am pretty much swamped at work, which is kind of nice to make the days go quickly, but also stressful. Nonetheless, I'm happy to be given the responsibility and anxious to prove to my boss and coworkers that I can deliver. I felt like a slacker because I essentially couldn't fulfill the duties in my job description due to not being allowed in the lab (per company policy as a safety concern). Now I definitely don't feel guilty for getting pregnant, but I do feel that if I want to advance I must really prove myself during fiscal years that I am not.

Well, things are so busy I must work a little bit from home this evening and tomorrow evening. Next week is our R&D conference so posting probably will not happen, even though I will still be in town. Hopefully I'll get to post this weekend after Matt & I get our new furniture (did I mention we bought new furniture and I'm SO excited!?).

Things I Thought I'd Never Do as a Mom...

10. Take drugs during labor... I hate needles and didn't think I'd want any drugs. While I only had Nubain in my IV (it was already in), I requested an epidural but after I had fully dilated. (Super fast apparently).

9. Have the desire to temporarily walk away from my son... its true, there are going to be situations where you have to put down and walk away from the crying/screaming baby! I thought I could never get enough of the cuddly little man.

8. I really thought I'd keep Jack in the recovery room after L&D over night. I ended up being so exhausted I asked them to take him to the nursery for a couple of hours. Probably from the excitement of L&D, our new bundle of joy and visiting family all in < 10 hours. I think Matt struggled with that decision more that I did, but I was more physically exhausted then he was.

7. Not put Jack in a crib/bassinet from the first day home from the hospital. Believe me, we tried... but the frequency of waking and the amount of (what I thought was blood-curdling) crying broke me quickly. He slept on my chest or in someone's arms for the first week of life.

6. Give birth to an 8 lb. 2 oz. baby boy... I'm not even 5 foot and didn't weigh much more than 14o at full term = PETITE. Guess this is what happens when your husband is almost 6 foot.

5. Call the pediatrician the 2nd day/night home from the hospital. I feel really silly now, but I didn't notice that newborn diapers have a little line that changes color when it absorbs pee so I was really worried about urine output and that he was getting dehydrated.

4. Be so attached to breastfeeding. My theory before was that I'd do it if it worked out and if not, not stress too much about it. Well, my supply has waxed and waned throughout my breastfeeding experience but I have not brought myself to weaning Jack when times got tough or discouraging and its purely an emotional thing for me. I love the mother-son time!

3. I thought it'd be easy to nap when people came over to hold Jack to let me get some sleep. I found myself wanting to visit and get adult time, which led to a very tired Mommy, until I finally gave in to Mommy nap time.

2. Get frustrated when Jack didn't do things on a schedule/timeline. This is where baby books and websites have gotten the best of me... I'm always trying to find out what he "should" be doing and constantly trying to remind myself that there are ranges for developmental milestones.

1. Bed-share. I never wanted to, but I can honestly say that it helped with the exhaustion that can come with nursing through the nights. It may not be for every family, but Matt was very supportive because he knew how much easier it was on my recovering body. I know people are worried about rolling over on baby or dangers like that, but when you're only sleeping for 1.5-2 at a time you never really go into that deep of sleep. Personally, I felt like I slept better than when he was in a cradle in our room because instead of getting up to see what every movement he made was, feeling his little movements next to me were almost comforting. We eventually moved to Jack starting the evening in his crib , then coming into bed with us for the last 2 feedings of the night. At 6 months he was still wanting to nurse through the night and at the recommendation of our pediatrician tried the cry-it-out method. Jack has happily been sleeping in his own bed (and THROUGH THE NIGHT) since then... sure that may all change when teeth decide they want to start popping out!

I'm sure throughout my journey of motherhood there will be MANY more to add to this list! Makes me more understanding of different choices that parents make for their families and what works best for raising their children.

Winter Wonderland

This weekend started off by getting an early release at work because of the snow coming down. I was really excited, but I do get very anxious driving in snow. I attribute it to the fact that the first time I ever drove in snow/winter conditions was when I got a car in college (I think it would've been winter 2006?); so less than 5 years. Not to mention driving in college shouldn't really count because I'm sure I avoided driving at all costs. I am getting more comfortable as time goes on, but its more the anticipation of having to drive in it that gets me! Long story short on the winter storm, we got a FOOT of snow! Now, I know that may not be a lot for many areas of the country, but in under 24 hours that happened fast in my opinion!

We're so lucky to have gotten the house we did... our neighbor used his snow blower over our driveway, sidewalk & front porch 2 or 3 times Friday when it was coming down so fast, and again Saturday! I am so grateful and want to bake something to take over because we're so thankful. Now don't get me wrong, Matt was out there shoveling too, but of course using the snow blower it went MUCH faster. As Matt said "He's gotten more done in 10 minutes then I did for 30 minutes of shoveling!". Here's a picture of Matt shoveling (I think he secretly enjoys it because we're new homeowners):

It looks kind of blurry because I was taking it through the screened window on our storm door. Our driveway is really wide back by the garage, wide enough for the 2 1/2 car garage at least! Matt did most of that, while our neighbor got the skinnier part of our driveway (we have a shared driveway), I'd say they did the same amount... just took way less time for our neighbor!

Here are a few pictures of Jack in the snow:

That's him Friday afternoon when I was home early from work... he was very perturbed because he couldn't move in his snowsuit!

This is a picture on Saturday after the snow had pretty much stopped... his legs are straight down in the snow! I know he's not that "tall", but I also doubt his legs were all the way to the grass.

So, in other exciting news... we got our stimulus check for our first time homebuyer incentive! (We had amended our 2008 taxes for the 2009 purchase as allowed by the credit)... Can't wait to use it to pay off what is left on our washer, dryer, stove & new carpet (we got those great deals of 12 months, same as cash). Then put the rest in savings! :-)

Friday Fill-ins!

1. I know its going to snow the next couple of days and I think its beautiful since I don't have to go anywhere!
2. This week might make February feel like the longest month.
3. You can't help but smile when you hear Jack's laughter or see his smile.
4. Winter storm is here; bring it on!
5. Where have you looked that shows you how wondrous God is?
6. Thank goodness, now that we've finished laundry, Jack's fleece PJ is now available. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to drinking hot cocoa and snuggling with my boys, tomorrow my plans include visiting with family and then having a Mommy-Night-Out with the girls and Sunday, I want to get some housework done before starting the work week again!

Is it Friday Yet?!

Wow... Why is it that Tuesday evening, it feels like I've already worked a full 5 day week (and then some). I'm not complaining, I'd rather be busy with things to do especially because I feel very lucky to have a job in this economy.

Yesterday started out with a surprise that myself and a coworker were going to be presenting on a project to the head of R&D the next day (which would be today). This is not something that is taken very lightly by my department head... I kind of feel that sometimes he is a bit too controlling. I guess its good because he tends to be aware of what is going on, but sometimes it is hard to allow your personality to show through in your work. So, we worked on our presentation for a couple of hours, reviewed it with some senior members of our group (my direct boss included), and then putting the finishing touches on it. We reviewed it again today the hour before our meeting/presentation was scheduled and one women gets an email on her Blackberry saying that meeting is cancelled for this week. ARGH... well, our presentation is just being pushed back so we're at least prepared for when the presentation will actually happen. I am grateful for the opportunity to present to senior management. I've been told essentially that my presence isn't known at the company, and that's some of what needs to happen for me to have a chance of promotion. We've also got a lot of prep going on for our global R&D conference on top of our project load, so things are just all around super busy.

I am excited for tomorrow evening, there is a group of younger women from work getting together to play a game, drink some wine, and eat some yummy food. The summer before I got pregnant with Jack I played sand volleyball with some coworkers. Getting that time outside of work is really helpful in not only networking but being able to do things at work together. Not to mention, getting a girls' night will be a much welcomed break.

Things on the breastfeeding end of motherhood have been slightly discouraging lately. My supply seems to be going down a bit and I can't quite figure out why. I know Jack is eating more solid foods, but I keep reading that he's still supposed to be getting most of the nourishment from formula or breastmilk. But it seems that even though on the weekend when I'm nursing him full-time and only giving him solids after nursing, my supply is still low. I guess I shouldn't assume that my supply is going bad, but when I pump I'm getting far less than I had been (we're talking 50%). I keep toying with the idea of weaning him, but I don't know that I'm quite ready. I know it sounds selfish but I enjoy the time we get and honestly, I enjoy saving money. Haha, yes I know I've got weird reasons, but my feelings are all over the map on this topic!

Well, in more exciting news... JACK IS CRAWLING! He took his first on all-fours "steps" on Sunday and he's getting better and better every day. He is still doing a lot of moving around in any which way he can. Involving hands, knees, feet, and butt to get to whatever he wants... pretty cute! Luckily he's not too fast yet but we need to work on baby-proofing our house better.

Well, I'm beat and seriously need to get better sleep than I have the past couple of nights!