This has been an amazing year. I can’t believe all that has happened. New job, new home, and of course new baby!
Kaylee will be 7 weeks old tomorrow. The time has FLOWN by since she was born. She’s already smiling and laughing and really starting to interact with the world around her. And she gets cuter by the day, I swear! ^_^ She likes to hang out in her bouncy seat and watch us. She also likes her tummy-time mat and huge triangle stuffed block thing that she can slide down by wiggling on her tummy. She’s sleeping better, although we still have some rough nights (like this past Tuesday night, when she pretty much wouldn’t sleep all night! Ahh!) Ethan and I are tired of course, but also really enjoying her. Sometimes I think she gives me more energy than I used to have. lol.
I’m back at work now. Transitioning to being back at work has been hard, I miss her during the day, especially on days like today when work is really quiet (Macalester is on winter break). But knowing she’s home with Ethan for a while yet makes it better. We’ll see how I feel in February when I take her to daycare.
I think my body is healing quite well from the birth. I got back on the ice for the first time at 5 week post-partum and it was GREAT. My team isn’t doing too well this season, but I’m just glad to get the chance to play. I’m working at getting back into shape. I’m back into most of my pre-pregnancy clothes, but I still have more to loose before I’m satisfied. I want to hit my goal weight by my friend Josh’s wedding in early May.
With the New Year almost here I’ve made 3 new resolutions:
1. Get down to my goal weight by May 10th
2. Breastfeed Kaylee for at least 6 months, but try to make it to 1 year
3. Write and submit a presentation proposal for the next IALLT conference.
Happy New Year!
Kaylee is now 3 weeks old and Ethan and I have learned a lot about parenting a newborn over the past 3 weeks. Kaylee is being breastfed, and after a few latching stumbles at the beginning she has been doing wonderfully. Now we are also feeding her pumped milk from a bottle to get her ready for when I return to work in December. At her 2 week appointment she had gained 4 1/2 oz over her birth weight, which is excellent. Overall she is a very good baby. She doesn’t fuss much, although she does prefer to be held rather than sleep in her crib, but she’s getting better at that.
Our sleep schedule is totally crazy right now (I am writing this post at 3 am for crying out loud!). When Ethan is home it is pretty easy to take shifts and both get enough sleep, but during the week when I’m home with Kaylee it gets harder. Luck for me, my family has been amazingly helpful. My mom has come over a few times to watch Kaylee, and has helped me with housework. I don’t know what I’d do without her. I am so glad we moved up here to Apple Valley!
I start back to work part time a week from Monday, then full-time after the New Year. Ethan will work part time while I am, then be home full time for the rest of January. So that means Kaylee doesn’t go to daycare until February, which is good because at this point I can’t imagine her at daycare, I hope by February I feel differently. I do look forward to going back to work while Ethan’s home with her though. I love spending time with her, but I am going a bit stir-crazy being in the house all the time.
Having a baby is hard, but totally amazing. She is so adorable, it’s unbelievable! I love looking into her cute little face, kissing her cheeks, and snuggling her. Right now she’s sleeping soundly on my chest. People always think their kids are the cutest, but seriously, SHE’S SO CUTE! She has her dad’s eyes and my mouth and dimple. I look forward to watching her grow up and seeing what other parts of Ethan and I emerge in her.
She is so worth all the pain and stress of pregnancy. It seems crazy, but I actually do want to do it all again in a year or two to give her a little brother or sister. heh. If you had asked me in the third trimester I would have told you I never wanted to be pregnant again. But babies are amazing and just make life shiny.
We are posting pictures every week on http://gallery.ethanet.com, so please take a look!