Another Week In The Books!

We are finally starting to settle into a routine here!
Daddy and I wake up around 4:30am so I can see him off to work by 5am. Then I try to switch the laundry over, start/unload the dishwasher, pick up a little before 6. That's when I DEFINITELY have to start getting ready for work (why does that sound weird to say--"Start getting ready..." Sorry, tangent!) Then I have to be done by 6:30 so I can wake Emma up if she's still sleeping. Get her dressed and ready to go, check all of our bags one more time, and head to either her Nona's or her Mamaw's for the day. I work over 10 hours, come home, try to get dinner ready, eat, give Emma a bath and get her ready for bed. She's usually asleep by 9:30-ish so my guy and I can watch a little bit of this TV series we found on Netflix. And then we go to sleep so we can do it all over again the next day. Shew!! Same thing Monday through Thursday.

By the end of the day on Thursday, my brain is all mush. I don't want to think about anything serious for as long as possible! lol

Fridays are my "catch-up" days. Where I really do all the laundry (even get it folded and put away), the dishes, vacuum, and any projects I remembered need to get done. Because on Saturdays we ALWAYS have something to do. Never fails. There is always a place to be, someone to see... And Sundays are spent getting ready for Monday. My life is a routine and sometimes that is a good thing, and sometimes I just wish....

Anyways. Here's what's new with Emma. She is seriously getting so big now! She is doing amazing in her Jumperoo. She found herself in the mirror and my phone. I have some fun pictures of her playing with both!

She is also standing so much now (with help, of course). But the thing is: She likes to stand. If we are holding her hands, she will pull herself up to stand. And she can hold that for a really long time!! She's on track with everything she should be: motor-skill wise, "verbally," emotionally, everything. She's even ahead of the curve on some things--like the standing and neck control.

She's an amazing baby. I love coming home to her and getting even those few minutes/hours with her before bed. I love my Fridays with her. I am a lucky momma!

1st week at work

A lot of people have been asking me how my first week back at work went. I think the fact that I am *JUST NOW* getting around to blogging about it on here speaks VOLUMES! lol

Last week was so rough. First off, Tuesday was supposed to be my first day back. And, of course, Emma has to go get her 2month shots. I told work I would be in later that day so I could take her. She did so good. She's now 10lbs 8.8oz, 22" long. The doc said she's in the 40th percentile in weight & 34th percentile in height. She has a big ole head though! 38cm=65th percentile!! Then I got to hang out with her for a little bit, went to Dominic's to get Baby Tylenol and Karo. (We give her Karo on a binkie a few times a day & call it her "candy." It helps her go which keeps her belly from hurting so no more medicine!!... It's been amazing!)

Anyways, so then I had to leave her with my mom. That first day was really hard. I worked from 12Noon until 6pm. I guess it was a good thing to start with a half-day. I mean, I was really stressed the night before: trying to get everything ready for Emma, everything ready for me, coffee & lunch/snacks ready for my guy. My electric pump wasn't working that morning so I had to pack the manual one I had, luckily, bought for our trip to visit my dad. I experienced my first pumping session at work. It was a little awkward, but I have to do it so....

I picked Emma up right after work. I hung out at my mom's for a little bit then took Emma home. I ended up getting so really terrible news that night too: my Pappy has lung cancer and it's inoperable. They will be doing chemo & radiation but still...

Later that night Emma spiked a low-grade fever. She just wanted to be held all night. Her daddy & I finally got her to sleep around midnight, but then she was up again at 3:30am to eat. And she didn't want to go back to sleep after that. So I was up almost all night and had to get out of the house by 7am to drop her off with my mom again and go to work. That was a much longer and harder day. I took a lot more breaks to go to the bathroom and cry; I only called my mom at my first pump session though because when I did call, Emma was up and playing and "talking"... and hearing all that just made me cry.

Emma Wednesday morning, right before we headed to my mom's.

Thursday was a little better. Emma went to bed around 10:30, woke up around 3:30 to eat, slept until 6:30. I fed her again before I headed to work. I dropped her off with her Neena-Nona (my guy's mom) bright and early. I was going to call on my first pump session, but when I checked facebook, she had a post that Emma had played until she fell asleep...it was about 30 minutes before, so I didn't call. I left work and headed straight to her house to pick Emma up. When I got there, Emma was playing in her bouncer and having fun. BUT the second she saw me, she started crying until I picked her up. Apparently she did the same thing when her daddy stopped by.

Friday was about as good a day as a work day can be. Emma fell asleep Thursday night around 10pm and woke up around 4am to eat. My guy was up around 4:30am and left by 5am. I showered, cleaned up the house some, got all my stuff and Emma's stuff together, and then fed her again around 6:30. We got to "eat lazily" and even had enough time to play on her playmat for about 5 or 6 minutes before we left for Neena-Nona's.

Playtime before heading to work/Neena-Nona's

It was a "half-day" at work (we close early on Fridays) and it went by pretty fast. PLUS I knew it would be the only Friday I work for a long time. (My new, permanent schedule went into effect this week. Monday through Thursday only) It felt so good to be able to go get Emma and play with her the rest of the day!

So that's it. That was my first week back to work. It's not really an indication of how it's going to be from here on out because the days and times will be very different from last week. I'll be able to schedule her doctor appointments on Fridays so I can take her every time. But overall, it was a decent week.