A Day In The Life

Matt asks me each day when he gets home what we did all day. There's a lot of days I seriously can't remember, but I know we did a lot. This gave me the idea for this post. This isn't exactly the most typical day of my maternity leave, but it kind of is a good picture. I recorded this the day after we came back from our trip to Pittsburgh...not typical. We also had an appointment for Q at the audiologist which isn't typical, but at the same time between myself and Quinn I feel like I have spent half my maternity leave in doctor's offices. Quinn was also a little off schedule this day in the afternoon, but of course that happens. So here is what December 29th 2015 looked like for us :)

12:14: Quinn took a little extra effort to get to sleep. She did take a very long nap midday on our drive from Pittsburgh to home. She's usually in bed before this, but we did have a very well behaved traveller, so I can't be too upset. Once Quinn was asleep, I went straight to bed.

5:55: Matt's alarm goes off for him to get to the train for work. He is out the door by 6:20. I waited for him to get ready while laying in bed and thinking about the day ahead. If I was smart, I would have tried to stay asleep.

6:25: I convinced myself to get out of bed, and was very thankful Q didn't wake up yet. This gives me time to hurry up and get myself ready. So I take a shower, get dressed, and blow dry my hair.

7:00: Time to get Quinn up, changed, and dressed.

7:10: Quinn and I go downstairs to feed her, watch our friends Matt and Savannah on the Today show, and of course change more diapers.

8:00: After Quinn's feeding, I need a wardrobe change (spit up problems), and I get my breakfast. Then we go to the gym (aka the play mat thing for babies). While she's in the gym, I pump (for milk to store) and talk to her. I get the milk in the fridge, we do some more gym time, and I change her quickly.

8:30: I fix myself some coffee and get Quinn situated in her carseat to get ready to go to her appointment. I'm happy we are pretty much stress free and on time.

9:00: We make it to our audiologist appointment on time! This was an interesting experience, but we are now sure that Q can hear very well, so that's all that matters. She was a good tester too!

10:15: I decide to feed Q in the car instead of going home since we are closer to Wegmans and it cuts out a coming and going from the house. I'm not totally sure this was the easier option, but it all worked out.

11:15: Grocery shopping at our favorite, Wegmans! Quinn sleeps the majority of the time.

12:45: We get home. I unpack the car and put away the groceries. Thankfully Q stays asleep when I take her out of the carseat so I have some time to eat my lunch, clean up bottles and pump parts, and organize all the pumped milk that we transported back from our trip.

1:30: Quinn's lunch.

2:10: Play time. Including tummy time and more time at the gym.

3:00: Quinn takes a nap. I am holding her. I usually don't do this, but I'm getting sad my leave is coming to an end so I decide to hold her a little longer. I pay bills with the other hand :)

3:35: I put her down in her rock and play which we keep downstairs so I can go through the mail and prep dinner for tonight.

4:10: I check in on my insurance...something else I have been doing a lot of on my maternity leave. I also spend some time just looking at facebook and other stuff on the internet.

4:40: What I call 'Quinn's senior citizen dinner.'

5:00: Now Quinn needs a wardrobe change and afterwards we do a little tummy time and read a story.

5:45: Typically Quinn would take a little catnap, but she's a little fussy and wakes up after 15 or 20 minutes. I let her fuss a little bit in her rock and play while I fill in the details about her first Christmas and her two month well check in her baby book.

6:15: Feeding. More like a snack.

6:30: Snuggle time.

6:45: Matt comes home and takes a shower while Quinn and I finish up getting dinner together. Matt plays with her for a little before dinner.

7:30: Dinner...the three of us always have dinner together.

8:00: I clean up dinner while Matt plays with Quinn and changes her. I go through the pictures from our Christmas trip.

8:40: Quinn gets a little fussy. Typically she would take a little nap before her last feeding, but that's not working out.

9:15: I prep her last bottle. Matt feeds her a bottle at about this time every night. While he is feeding her, I pump then store the milk or make a bottle for the next day, and then wash all the pump parts and bottles from the day.

10:30: Bedtime for Q. Matt is putting her to sleep tonight so I get myself ready for bed and try to stay awake until Matt is done. I was not successful. Apparently he came to bed at 11:15 :)

Two Months!

Baby Q is two months old today! People always tell you how quickly time goes and it's so true. I can't believe how big she is and how much different she is this month than last month. She had her two month well visit yesterday. She is still keeping it long at 23 inches and now weighs 10 pounds 13 ounces. The doctor was very pleased with her growth and her strength. She can push herself up, hold her head up very well, and has good control during tummy time. Sometimes we can even get a smile out of her until she starts screaming to get off her stomach. We also suffered through her first round of shots (3 injections and 1 oral vaccination). I have never seen Quinn so upset, or so red. It was tragic. So sad. I am not looking forward to doing that again. I pretty much let her do whatever she wanted for about 5 hours after that...that included eating and sleeping.

Quinn's latest accomplishments include rolling from tummy to back. The first time she did it was on Thanksgiving when she was five weeks old, but she has become a lot more consistent recently. Also around five or six weeks she started smiling intentionally and even laughs! It's the best! She is still quite vocal - in a good way - at all times of the day, even in her sleep. She is a very happy and content baby. Matt and I consider ourselves so, so lucky to have her, and even more lucky with her wonderful sleep and demeanor. She still sleeps in her crib, in her own room, each night, and pretty consistently sleeps all through the night.

In addition to those tricks, she has also really begun to focus on objects. She still loves lights, but now looks at you when you talk to her and definitely could stare at the lion in the gym for a very long time. She might be in love with him. Quinn can also track objects, like the lion or people, when they move. She swats at toys and reaches for things as well. She can grasp things if you put them in her hand. She might be considered a local celebrity at Wegmans, Target, and The Running Store!

It has been a busy social month. We have had visitors, celebrated Thanksgiving with friends, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit, she met Santa Claus, and Quinn even attended her first Christmas party. She was very well behaved for all. We are so looking forward to the next week of social events for the holidays. Quinn will get to meet more family members, take her first road trip, and of course celebrate her first Christmas!.

Obviously, Quinn doesn't come without challenges. We discovered that Quinn has a clogged tear duct (thanks Aunt Caitlin!). Hopefully it will go away with time, but for now I am providing her with nose massages. She also continues to spit up on a regular basis as well. That's probably her most frustrating quality.

We love Quinn so much and are enjoying every moment with her. I always feel so torn..I wish I could stop time and she could be this small and I could stay home with her all day, everyday, but at the same time I cant wait to see what the next month(s) brings.

Friday Love

Happy Friday everyone! Especially to my co-workers - Happy Winter Break! I just can't believe it's December 18th, it's winter break, and it's Christmastime. My days are flying. FLYING. Like I said in my last post I feel like I skipped a while season. At the same time, I don't know what season since it's been in the 60s and 70s here recently. We are supposed to get cold here this weekend before having a 60 degree Christmas. Today, I have a short {Friday Love} for you. This weekend Quinn is having some special visitors I'm excited about and we are going to her first Christmas party (hopefully she cooperates)! Happy weekend!

{one}

Serial. Pretty much the only podcast I can handle. It's back for a second season. I haven't started listening yet. Matt and I planned to save the first couple episodes to listen to together on our upcoming road trip. I have to admit, I'm not super hopeful or psyched about this season's story. I really don't know how you could top season one either. I do hope Sarah Koenig proves me wrong.

{two}

Amazon Prime. I'm late to the game on this one. A little while ago we joined the rest of the world in 2015 and bought an Amazon Prime membership. They are impressive. I ordered all Q's Christmas presents and they were here the next day. The next day.

{three}

Stomach Sleeping. Remember all my pregnancy posts? How I was so miserable sleeping on my side? I had this fantasy of coming home from the hospital and just laying on my stomach for 5 uninterrupted minutes. HAHA. Then I had a C-section. Wellll my stomach sleeping has finally resumed! It's weird. In my old life all the stars use to have to align for me to be able to fall asleep. Now, stomach, side, sitting up, it doesn't really matter...I fall asleep.

{four}

Playing Santa. I'm so excited that Matt and I get to play Santa this year, even if the recipient has no idea who I am let alone who Santa is...oh well.

{five}

We're Still Here!

It's been so long since I've posted. I can't believe how fast time is passing. November and December are notoriously the quickest months of any school year I have ever worked. There are just so many days off from school and lots of holiday excitement. Now that I have been on leave from work since late October it's almost like I skipped fall entirely this year. I remember checking into the hospital on October 20th and leaving a week later and thinking somehow Matt and I missed all the trees turning colors and somehow we were already in the middle of fall. It was weird.

Obviously, life is very different right now. I keep getting those 'you have memories today' messages from Facebook. A year ago I was doing a lot of running. I was outside all the time. This year, I'm lucky to leave the house for an hour or two a couple times a week. Quinn is seven weeks old today. That means had everything gone completely normally with my labor and delivery I should have gone back to work a week ago. I just can't even fathom that. No one wants to leave their six week old at daycare with strangers. Beyond that, though, I feel like I just figured out how to go to the grocery store successfully, I don't know how I will throw in a full time job in addition to the mothering, and the dozens of extra things that come with it. It's overwhelming to think about.

Quinn's first trip to Wegmans!!!

Family leave, in my opinion, needs to be a full year. The place I work gives six or eight weeks paid leave (depending on how you deliver), and up to twelve weeks family leave total. It's a little sad I was kind of happy when I had to have the C-Section because I knew I would have more time at home with my baby. It's even more sad that when I went to my six week check up last week my doctor wrote me a note to take extended time off, due to my legitimate near death childbirth experience, that I was suddenly thrilled to have had a postpartum hemorrhage, blood transfusion, hypertension, and renal insufficiency. And his note had to state all that for me to remain paid, even though I have more than enough leave to cover well over twelve weeks of maternity leave, but can't use it because it's 'just bonding' with your baby after your medical recovery period. Sad. Anyway, enough of my rant, but really something needs to change.

In other news...we had a great Thanksgiving. We stayed in Virginia and celebrated with some family friends. Quinn looked like a little turkey and was very well behaved the whole time. She continues to be such a delightful and easy baby. In the past few weeks she has started smiling with a purpose, which is so much fun. We are getting very excited for her first Christmas and being able to play Santa, even though she really has no idea what's going on. It will also be Quinn's first long trip in the car. Cross your fingers.

Last weekend we took Quinn to meet Santa. It was one of those times when the new mom thinks she has a great idea and then realizes she's still an amateur. I got Quinn all ready, looking all cute. We arrive on the scene. No line. I walk up to the high school elf and he's asking me a bunch of questions before telling me it's a 3.5 hour wait. Ummmm, WHAT?! He also tries to tell me that he knows how hard it is with a baby. I thought I was going to cry right there. He says he can text Quinn when Santa is ready for her and how long of notice do we need. I was thinking to myself...well about 3.5 hours. Everything did work itself out and Quinn met Santa. But, really, 3.5 hours to see Santa?! Only in Northern Virginia.

Stay tuned for more updates about Quinn's accomplishments. She certainly has checked a few things off the infant to do list since her one month post. Like I said before, it's crazy how quickly the time has gone.