New things in the life of Morgan:
TV - At 10 weeks of age, we now have to limit the amount of time the TV is on, much to Adam's chagrin. The kid will sit and watch it for quite some time since she enjoys sitting facing away from us now the best, which works well for Adam when watching football games and ESPN. Morgan's personal favorite is football which means she is in some sort of heaven right now b/c football is constantly on if Adam's home...unless mom says to turn off the TV and try to teach her something...like arm control. :) Maybe she'll be a famous football announcer on ESPN someday. That would make for one proud Daddy and Uncle Tommy, I'm sure. (Ok, me too, but don't tell anyone.)
Today was a fun milestone for me as I finally found some time and had the determination to do it - I packed away 98% of my maternity clothes. Unlike several of my friends, I only fit into my very fattest pants pre-pregnancy. Boo. BIG boo. I haven't weighed myself since getting back from Christmas/WI and at that point I was still sitting at my "regular" +14lbs prepregnancy. (Which really is only +11 b/c I was working towards the other number when I got pregnant so we're going for gold here people.) I'm starting the 30-day shred by Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser trainer) next week so hopefully that will help. I have heard of several people swearing by it so I think it's my turn. :) I don't want to actually end up on her show so we'll start now when it's just 14#s I want to lose, not 114. So my clothes are put away, save for some very early pregnancy pants to hold me over until I fit into my other ones (which hopefully actually happens after my elasticity comes back...which it better!).
Morgan splashed in the bathtub for the first time yesterday! She has now had 4 baths in the "big girl tub" (regular bathtub - she outgrew the little one she was borrowing from her cousins) and she finally got it that when I moved her legs up and down, this fun thing called splashing happens...so all of a sudden she just started doing it on her own and got pretty excited! I finally had to take the little prune out of the tub (crying) b/c the water was starting to get cold. So cute!
Along with watching TV, Morgan has a renewed love of watching the dogs. She especially likes it when they are making a ruckus or playing with Adam on the floor. She's still ok with them getting up close and in her face to sniff until we shoo them away. Really, who wants a cold nose touching their face? Not me, and I'm assuming not Morgan as well. :) BTW, the picture below is of Ellie stealing Morgan's nuk...ha!
We've had some serious family time (the 5 of us; 3 humans and 2 dogs who think they're human) in the past few weeks. It's been fantastic. I've loved every minute of it. I think it makes me love Morgan even more and appreciate her even when she's fussy b/c I have to "share" her to get more things done around the house and allow her to have daddy/daughter time (which each enjoys). Today, for example, she slept a TON (we're hoping she's not coming down with something again) and I actually missed her (scary for when I return to work). I was so excited for 4pm when I was going to wake her up (she doesn't get to sleep more than 3 hours in the afternoon so she sleeps at night) but she woke up at 3:55pm instead...happy mommy. I skipped up the stairs to get her and was greeted by a stretching, happy baby. Speaking of sleeping baby Morgan, she's been getting *slightly* better at putting herself to sleep (knocking on wood after typing). We've really been practicing putting her down when she's not all the way asleep so she can practice putting herself to sleep the rest of the way. It worked beautifully today for her nap - I watched her go from almost wide awake to sleeping in about 4 minutes - and then tonight for her last feeding she was out COLD until I took her up to her room...and then eyes open. But I laid her down anyway and haven't heard much except for some sleepy noises since about 8:30pm when she went up there. :) Hoping that sticks a little...although that's an unpredictable one. :)
Ok, last two topics to post about. They're doosies, so hang tight people. First up. Trial run at daycare. I decided we better get this done asap since I am likely heading back to work this next week (more on that later...procrastinated just a little too much on pinpointing a date...stupid me, but nothing I can do about it now). I called Mary (our sitter, she lives 2 doors down and runs a great ship there) and set it up for Wednesday. It was Adam's last day of work this week and we were going to run a trial morning anyway, so why not top it off and actually SEND Morgan to the sitter's? So it was all set up, she sent the paperwork down to fill out Tuesday night, and we were ready to go and learn from our mistakes. ;-) So Wednesday morning comes and everything goes almost smoothly, except neither of us got breakfast and we were tight on time. Lesson #1 - Get up earlier. Lesson #2 - have 100% of things ready to go in the morning, not 90%. So we're in such a huge rush that I was pretty sure I'd be too worried about punctuality and getting Adam to work on time (we both dropped her off) that I wouldn't be upset about leaving her. The plan was for an hour, but while there, we decided that she'd stay for 2-2.5 hours depending on how things went. So we drive there, scurry in the house (it was snowing a bit), and give Mary the LD on where Morgan was at in terms of feeding, diapers, how to manage M's cloth diapers, etc. Then it happened. There was nothing left to do but leave, especially since another family was arriving and it was about to get busy there. That's when the dam broke and I got upset at leaving her. She just looked like such a big girl, staring up at me from her car seat, leaving her at daycare. Aren't they supposed to be 5 y/o or something when they first go to daycare?? Not 10 weeks? No? So I managed to make my way outside and bawled my eyes out my entire walk home. When I got back to pick Morgan up, she had been crying and Mary asked how much tummy time she was getting. I said not enough and that we had been working on it this week as top priority. Mary said that it would really help with Morgan's gassy/fussy issues so she now gets lots of tummy time in small intervals before the serious screaming starts. It seemed to really help on Wednesday as she was super happy the whole day. Th/F? Not so much...hopefully it's not b/c she's getting sick. See tummy time trial below...not sure if you can see she's screaming. :-/
So anyway, I'd consider her first trial run at daycare a success even though she likely screamed for a 1/2 hour while she was there. Oh, she also took an hour nap while there too. I'm super confident that this sitter/daycare is going to work out. Morgan has a new friend, Chase, who is about a month older than her to be friends with along with some of the other kids. I'm hoping that since I was upset her first trial run day there that her first real day of daycare will leave me less weepy. Right...I doubt it, too.
Last order of business. My breastmilk supply and Morgan starting daycare. Here's the current scoop - when I pump, I routinely get about 3 oz. of milk. It can easily be assumed that Morgan, when nursing, gets 3-3.5 oz each time. Since she eats about 8-9x/day, that accounts for her eating about 24-27 oz of milk each day. That's about right for her age and breastfeeding. Here's the problem - there is NO way I can pump every other hour while at work like she nurses when I'm at home. It's just not possible. When I go 3 hours b/w pumping/nursing, I still get 3-3.5oz. That said, she's quickly going to "outeat" my supply and dip into our small frozen stash. As I'm sure you've figured it out already, that leaves me with the only conclusion - there is no way I'm going to be able to keep up with exclusively breastfeeding (EBF) Morgan after I return to work. I was really hoping to do this for several reasons but having finally come to the conclusion that it likely will happen that I'm going to have to supplement her with formula. :( This was really hard to realize but after talking with Mary on Wednesday, I'm more at ease with it. I'm still going to pump and do the best I can feeding her with breastmilk but the kid's gotta eat. Bummer. If you know me at all, I like to (and usually strive to) be the best at everything. I know this isn't always a good thing, but to me being an EBFer was the best I could do for Morgan. Realizing that I likely won't be able to do that was hard...but like I said, we're going to roll with it and who knows. Maybe the magic supply fairy will finally come "knocking" and I will have enough for Morgan even though everyone I talked to said their supplies tanked or dipped upon their return to work.
So I'm pretty sure this is the longest post in the history of posts, so thanks for bearing with me. Time is a hot commodity these days and now that I had some, this is just how it's going to be. I've had such a great time with Adam and Morgan these past few days especially b/c I haven't had to share them with anyone. They've been all mine. And I've loved it. Sigh. How does one make time stand still so as to avoid returning to work, Adam traveling, and honestly, real life? I've enjoyed being home with Morgan so much that I'm already getting thisclose to counting down the days until June 9th (my last scheduled day of work this school year). Last summer I kept my birth-3 caseload over the summer which resulted in roughly 7-8 work days (I can't remember). Adam asked me if I was doing that again this summer to which I said NO. But the thought of the extra cash to do something fun with, or put away in her savings/college fund is also very enticing. We shall see. For now, let's just concentrate on going back to work like a big girl and get back into the swing of things...I'm so lucky. I love my family. So much...
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