The transition has been made.

To the crib, that is. I have to tell you, it was much harder on mommy than baby. I woke with each little noise from the monitor, but I was very patient and good and waited, because K seemed to console herself back to sleep again without needing me. She woke up screaming for food at 3:30, but that was it. She went right back down without a peep, and I even slept in as daddy got up with her. SLEEP IS GOOD. I have energy today...and all because I cut the cord.

Anybody need a bassinet? 'Cause the kid is confined to her own room now! Maybe the hubs and I can resume a somewhat "normal" marital relationship. Since I have family that read this, I will spare the details...but you know already.

On to sadder things...

Seven more days until I return to work. Seven more days in a row of cuddling, playing, and enjoying every waking moment of my little growing girl. It's so nice to be able to see all of her "firsts", and I am sad to think about missing more milestones because I have to work.

We are very lucky to have a great neighbor who will care for her while we work. She lives across the street and used to run her own in-home daycare, but has taken a break from it for 6-7 years. We trust her, and she seems like family more than just a neighbor. Thankfully, we will only need her M-W-F because I'll have Tuesdays off and Glen will have Thursdays off. I was a bit nervous about deciding to decrease my hours from 40 to 32 (the decision was made back in October), but I am SO GLAD I did. So I'll have to pay a bit more for insurance premiums, and I'll lose 1/5 of my paycheck. I can deal with that. Buy fewer coffees, take lunch to work instead of buying, cut my everyday spending. I can do it! Because that means I get one more day a week to watch my little girl grow.

Working moms out there: How did you handle your transition back to work? Was it worse or better than you expected? Any advice to share?

9 hours

My sweet girl slept from 9:30 pm to 6:30 a.m....a new record! But she did make us pay by leaving a very stinky "present" in her diaper....

...and you've managed to steal my heart again....your first laugh. Ten minutes ago, right after I made a silly face at you. Now the fun really begins.

Sleeping Angel

My Sweet Baby Katelyn,

You STTN lastnight!!! It took you a while to fall asleep, but from 10:45pm to 6:15am you were a sleeping angel! Then, you allowed me to change your very stinky diaper, followed by a 20-minute feeding and then you fell asleep again! You are now in your crib napping away while mommy can actually drink a cup of chai, eat some oatmeal, and pump. Wow...I just don't know what to do! [Note annoying repeated use of exclamation point!]

Today, mommy has a "Returning to Work and Breastfeeding" workshop that I wish I hadn't signed up for. I'm sure I'll learn something, but I feel prepared: I've got the pump [and using it several times a day], I've already arranged my patient schedule to allow for pumping breaks, and [most of all]I just don't want to give up a whole afternoon to sit in a class. After today, I only have 11 days of maternity leave left, and I'm growing increasingly sad about it.

I love getting up with you in the morning, looking down at your groggy face while you take your first feeding in the daylight and watching as you fall asleep still latched on. I especially love the way you tend to fall asleep with a mouthful of milk that you are just too tired to swallow...and it slowly drips out of the side of your pretty pursed mouth as you dream away.

I love watching you watch yourself in the mirror while you play on your gym mat, especially when I see this cute little face as you play:



You are in L-O-V-E with your hands, as you find a way to suck on them all.day.long. They pretty much stay cold and wet all day long, as you prefer them to the 4 different kinds of binkies that mommy has tried. I keep checking your gums for a possible emerging tooth, but I know good and well that it's a bit early for that. I'm sure you are just enamored by the fact that you've discovered your hands and need to keep them busy all the time. Ah, you're just like your daddy and his roaming hands. :)

You're just starting to partially roll, mostly from your back to your side, but not all the way. You're tolerating tummy time for 5-6 minutes rather than the 1-2 we started with. You love it when mommy holds you against her chest so you can snuggle your face in the crook of her neck and drool as you fall asleep. You LOVE bathtime, but HATE the aftermath of lotion and dressing. You also adore the pretty [fake] orchid that hands over your changing table:



Mommy hears you waking from your morning nap, babbling away...you just started "talking" last week, and I just can't get enough of you.

Mommy loves you, sweet baby girl.

Aww, shucks!

I was given this award by a spunky, wine-loving gal who I've grown to love through the e-world: Lyse, I love ya, dear! (http://livelaughloveandmore.blogspot.com/)

Here are the rules:

1) Mention who gave you the award and include a link back to their blog.
2) List 7 interesting things about yourself.
3) Pass on the award to 7 other people's blogs and include the links.

Now I must tell you 7 interesting things about myself. Let's see if I can think of that many...

1. I am a Texan at heart, even though I was born in Arizona. I lived in Texas from 6 months of age to almost 25 years, and now that I'm in the Pacific Northwest, I realize just how special Texas is.

2. I grew up on a cotton farm and have driven several pieces of farm equipment, even a tractor. Hmmm...not as high maintenance as you thought, right?

3. I am the first person on both sides of my family to have a bachelor's and master's degree.

4. I met my husband on yahoo chat in 1998. Yes, I just admitted that. :)

5. My favorite drink is a lemon drop martini. I'm so not a beer girl. But a great glass of pinot noir will steal my heart just as easily.

6. I pretty much suck at any sport that involves my feet sliding across a surface: roller skating, roller blading, skiing, water-skiing....but I can rebound a basketball like nobody's business!

7. I love to paint, mostly acrylics, but I have dabbled in a bit of oil painting since I was 11 years old. Two of my works are displayed in our living room!



Now, here are 7 bloggers that who I'd like to pass the award to!
Be sure to check 'em out!

Sarah @ http://fallingforbaby.blogspot.com/

Rebecca @ http://nowttc.blogspot.com/

Bee @ http://beeshoneypot.blogspot.com/

Miranda @ http://prayinghopingwishingwaiting.blogspot.com/

Kate@ http://whenhellomeansgoodbye.blogspot.com/

Rsgrl @ http://rsgrl.blogspot.com/

Sheri @ http://littlebabyburns.blogspot.com/

Woo-hoo!

Down 4lbs since starting WW and going back to the gym 10 days ago...hopefully, I can keep this up!

Super 2 month old...and Awesome Super Bowl

Where has the time gone? My little angel turned 2 months old today! She celebrated by taking 2 long naps, staying awake to watch the football game with our friends Jeff and Megan and their 3 week-old daughter Riley, and then ending the night with an hourlong nonstop cryfest. The poor girl just gets an uspet tummy and gas so easily...something I'll mention to the pedi on Tuesday at Katelyn's 2-month appointment.
I am very proud of the fact that I made it to the gym 5 of 7 days this past week...and I actually kicked butt! The first day of hardcore cardio and weight lifting (separate days) were tough, I won't lie. But by the end of yesterday's workout, I feel my body responding. It feels great! I'm proud to kickstart this quest for fitness so well. Today I pretty much undid it with all the sinful noshing, though. Can you say chicken wings, mushroom turnovers, margherita pizza, and peanut butter pie? Umm, yea. Oh, and I shouldn't forget the 2 lemon drops I snuck in there with it all....The treadmill is definitely on my to-do list tomorrow! At least I got in 2 servings each of fruit and veggies..that counts for something, right?

Congrats to the N.O. Saints on their Super Bowl win! They were the underdogs, but it was nice to see something good happen for New Orleans.

Until next time, another pic of the little cutie:

Mourning my old self

So with the birthing of a baby, I have gained so much...a beautiful daughter, confidence in my skills as an inexperienced mom, appreciation for what my body can do, and the realization that WOW do I have a great hubby who can change diapers! I feel like the one thing I have lost is time.
Before Katelyn, I have no idea what I did with my time. Well---er, um, I take that back. I have every clue: internet shopping, blogging, reading blogs, organizing and reorganizing the closet(because of the shopping), painting my fingernails, taking nice long walks with the furbaby, lovin' up on the hubby, and having the freedom to work out (or not) anytime I wanted. Oh, yeah, and working (which I return to on March 1st---so soon!).

After 7 weeks of having a baby on a boob for 30 minutes every 2 hours, changing 10-12 diapers a day, rocking/cradling/shooshing the baby to please-for-the-love-of-heaven-SLEEP!!!!, I came out of the new mother fog and saw myself clearly in the mirror. I had to turn around and look over my shoulder because I swear, that is not me. The old Stacia didn't have love handles. She didn't have saggy boobs. And as far as I can remember, she used to wear makeup and fix her hair every day. HA!!! I am no longer the girl that I used to be.

Damn. Not pretty.

Sure, you can say that the stretch marks are battle scars, the love handles "will go away with breastfeeding", and Victoria's Secret has the hottest push-up bras! Granted, all of these things are trivial considering I birthed a perfect, healthy baby girl. I am not complaining about that. When reality hits (and my own critical eye), I have to admit I am VERY vain. Those stretch marks mean that I can't wear that bikini that I wore on our honeymoon. Those love handles, in fact, are not going away, despite my breastfeeding. And heaven forbid I buy a $50 bra...especially one that doesn't allow easy access for my sweet little one with a suction cup face.

I am now embracing my love handles and doing something about them. That gym membership that we've paid for month by month, the one that I didn't take advantage of for oh, 6 months last year, is now getting used. I've gone more in the past 2 weeks than I did in the entire first quarter of 2009.

IT FEELS GOOD.

Not only do I feel my abs working again, but I feel mentally lifted. I'm sleeping better. I'm waking up with energy. When I go to pick Katelyn up from the in-laws' after my workouts, I realize how much I missed her. All of those things work wonders when you're sleep deprived and have been wearing spit-up covered PJs for weeks.

I'm no doctor, but my prescription for post-baby blues? Mommy time.

And for all the SNL fans out there, more cowbell will have to wait.

By the way, my little girl will be 2 months old on Super Bowl Sunday!
Today's eye candy:

Lots of Randomness

So I'm slacking with the blogging....and still haven't posted Christmas pictures. We really didn't take as many as I thought, but here are a couple:

Jimmer and Katelyn:
















Us:


On another note, Katelyn will be 7 weeks old tomorrow! I can't believe how fast my little girl is growing! I stood with her on the scale this morning, and it shows her as 10 lbs!!! Just 5 weeks ago she was 8 lbs 5 oz, so if we go by the 1 oz per day she's supposed to gain, that's just about right on schedule.

Katelyn is definitely showing her personality. She has multiple facial expressions, she kicks and flails her arms, and she smiles and coos! She likes to cluster feed during the day, eating only 7-8 minutes every hour to hour and a half...but at night, she'll sleep 2.5-3 hours in between feedings. I have to say I'm ready for longer stretches of her sleeping (and in her own room) so that I can sleep a bit better. Last night, she did sleep through the night, from 10 to 5, but I won't believe it until it happens for at least a week. :) We're putting her in her crib for naps, but I don't want to have her sleep in the crib until we get a monitor. You'd think that as small as our house is, we wouldn't need one; but her room is just far enough away that it's hard to hear her cry from the living room and our bedroom when she's in there.

We went for our first girls' day out with Aunt Amanda last Monday, and we HAD to christen Katelyn to the joys of Nordstrom! We had fun, but I think auntie realized how much goes into carrying around an infant. One trip that should have lasted 1.5 hours max, ended up lasting almost 4 due to having to stop and change/feed/burp/console Katelyn. It's hard work!

Last weekend, Glen let the cat out of the bag that he booked us a trip to Las Vegas for my 30th birthday in August! Even better is the fact that our good friends Wes and Amanda from TX and Ryan and Lori from CA will be meeting us there! I am SOOOOOO excited!

SO: My goal is to fit into pre-pregnancy jeans and to buy a hot birthday night dress in a single-digit size.

Oh...the angel is awake from her nap...will start my next post with more pics!

Happy New Year, Happy 4 weeks!

My baby is 4 weeks old today! It seems as though it happened just yesterday...but the sleep deprivation reminds me that it's been longer than that. :)

We hit another milestone today: I was making those typical high-pitched "mommy voice" noises and kissing Katelyn today when she smiled!

Could this be gas?

:: I give Katelyn a second kiss::

ANOTHER SMILE!!! So my baby girl recognized her silly mommy and smiled twice. My heart has melted.

On other fronts, I can't believe the holidays are over and the new year has come. I've sucked up 4 of my 12 weeks of maternity leave, and it seems to be passing quickly. It didn't help that for the last 2 weeks I have had the flu, and the 2 weeks before that were difficult due to typical postpartum recovery. I finally feel like a semi-normal person!
Who would have thought that I could be happy with an interrupted-multiple-times night of 4-5 hours of sleep total? I have also learned that I don't have to have the room completely dark to sleep, and that 6:30 a.m. is not so early anymore!

Katelyn had gained 3 oz by her 2-week appt on 12/21 to make it up to 8 lbs 5 oz, but I believe she might be well on her way to 10 lbs by now! You wouldn't think so by looking at her in person, but I definitely feel the extra weight when I pick her up from a nap or when nursing her. She is a great latcher, and she also takes a bottle from daddy, grandma, or auntie Amanda without a problem! This is so nice when I need a break.

Tonight we will run out of newborn sized diapers and will try the size ones...they were big on her last week, so we're hoping she doesn't have a leak when we try them tonight! She is still wearing newborn sized clothes, as all of the 0-3 month sizes completely swallow her...but I can tell that her little legs and arms are getting a bit longer every week. I bet she goes up a size in the next 7-10 days, but we'll see!

2009 was a great year for us, and of course, Katelyn was our greatest accomplishement...and the tax deduction won't hurt. :)

Christmas pics to come!