I am just not good at keeping this thing updated! I've admitted it, and now I'm moving on...
I wanted to post a lot on my maternity leave, but it felt like there was never any time. Eleven weeks went by so fast. I've been back to work for two weeks already and I'm swamped with work. I literally have to mark off time in my calendar for lunch and pumping or I'll get scheduled into back to back meetings and not do either.
Speaking of pumping - that is my challenge so far. Thank God Isabella takes a bottle well - because she really has no choice. Pumping at work is interesting. I have to close my door and everyone in the outer office knows that if my door is closed I'm doing "motherly things". I somehow feel dirty when pumping though. I know it's completely normal and necessary, but it just isn't convenient and it takes up about a half hour of each day (I pump twice, so 15 minutes each time).
It's also weird having someone call my office and talk to me while I'm indisposed. But, my beautiful baby is totally worth it.
Let me tell you about my girls at this point in their lives.
Madison is 4 years and 8 months old. She's amazing. For the most part (and I mean most, there are rarely times where this isn't so) she is very polite, funny, and well tempered. She loves being around people - always asks if we can have people over for dinner and if we're going to see friends. She loves to dance and sing and is pretty good at both! She's starting to read - using sight words and making up whatever she can't figure out. She is obsessed with chapsticks, headbands, flip flops, tank tops and does her hair and changes her clothes about four times each day.
She's a diva, and I did not do it!
Best of all - she's an amazing big sister. She entertains her for me when I'm getting ready in the morning, she lets me know if she's crying when I'm in the shower. She tries to calm her down in the car and she is very protective of her.
And my Isabella, my 3 month old bundle of cuddly love. Isabella is such a great baby. She is on baby zantac which makes her so much happier than she was a month ago. Prior to this, she would scream nightly for about 3 hours at a time. Now, she has occassional fussy times, but she's a baby, that's normal.
She is my sleeper - thank GOD! With Madison, she just would not sleep at night. She would rest a lot during the day and cry almost all night long. I even remember someone telling us we needed to flip her - so we did. We literally held her one way before bed, and turnred her upside down and back around. It didn't work. She cried at night for almost 9 months.
Isabella on the other hand has slept at night since the day we brought her home from the hospital. THANK YOU GOD for that!! I mean it, I know how it is the other way, and I am so blessed.
She goes to sleep around 10:30pm and wakes up sometime after 4am, which is fine with me - I get up to run after 5am, so most mornings it works out perfectly. I nurse her and then head out.
She is so happy, almost always smiling and she even laughs (at Ryan, but soon I'll get her to laugh at me too!) She takes the bottle so well, but definitely lets me know I was missed when I get home from work. She pretty much nurses off and on all night long from 5pm -10:30pm on weekdays. Which, I really don't mind!! :)
She loves her sister. Madison only needs to be in the room for Isabella to light up and look around the room with a smile on her face, trying to find her big sister.
She is starting to teethe, so she's drooling like crazy and chomping on her hands non-stop. Even with a drooly mouth and slobbery hands, she's incredibly cute.
I just feel so blessed. Thank you Lord for these two amazing blessings. And thank you for Ryan - the most amazing best friend and father I could have ever dreamed of.
