Working Pants

Oh how I dreaded this week!! The week I became a WORKING MOM. 

You know it's true cuz I'm wearing work clothes and my hair is did and I have make up on (even though you can't see it)

My time with J was fabulous. I played with my sisters, snuggled my baby, took naps, and really just thoroughly enjoyed myself. There were multiple days where I thought "MAN I love the mom life." Ain't nothing better then being with my little man all day. 

But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. (Why isn't it all BAD things must come to an end??) my time ran out and I had to leave my stay at home mom life (aka stay in pjs mom life) for the working pants life - side note I am thoroughly enjoying wearing my work pants again. I missed them when I was prego. Weird. I know. 

So the million dollar question that I've been asked a million times. HOWS IT GOING? 

Depending on who asks, coworker, family member, parent of a student, I give a different answer. And all of them are true!!

Super hard, fun, wonderful to be back with the kids, exhausting, heart wrenching.... 

I mean how could it not be sad when I'm missing this silly face:

Basically I cry in the morning when J leaves me. Every morning. But once I get to school I'm so busy and I love my kids that I really do enjoy my time there. And then when J gets home I'm so happy to see him but sad because I'm reminded of all the time that I've missed. 

Some people love to work. And I know a lot of people who feel they would lose their sanity if they stayed home with the kids.

 I honestly thought I'd be one of those people. I didn't think I would ever want to leave teaching, I thought I would love being a working mom. Well to be blunt, I wouldn't be teaching right now if I didn't have to. 

J's guardian Angel

As hard as it is I know I  am so blessed. I truly love my job and know I am doing good there. I also am lucky to have J with a family member for the rest of the year. It helps knowing that he is loved. 

So for now I will wear two kinds of pants: my working pants and my mom pants... but don't forget the wife pants, chef pants (I don't wear these very often), cleaner pants and all those other pants that unfortunately still have to be worn..

Sleep training

When sleep training your baby who is the one that needs the most "training" mom or baby?

For us, it was mom. That's me!! Still can't believe I'm a mom. 

When J first came home with us all fresh and new he was like most babies and had his nights and days totally confused

You sleep at night? Whaaaat??

But I knew this was coming and was 100% mentally prepared for this just not physically. 

Wouldn't it be nice if you could store up sleep for when the new baby comes?? You could have a box full of sleep and when you were tired you'd take some "sleep" out of the box and feel refreshed. 

Sadly you cannot. 

So when nighttime came around: J was awake. Woody was awake. And I was exhausted. So woody would always keep J with him in the family room while I would get a couple hours of sleep. 

Although this was great for me I think that J started to think that 9PM was party time!! It didn't help that woody thought the same thing. 

Party with dad woot woot

So after going back and forth I finally decided to move J into his own room. I was really hesitant about this because he was way too small! I'd miss him. And I didn't want to get up and go in another room to nurse him. 

At the same time I decided it was time to have a bedtime routine and a bedtime!! 

Now we had tried this like ten times. It usually lasted for a day and then I would want my sleep so J would go back into the family room with dad (hence the move to his own room).

We aren't strict about the time usually Between 8 and 9 we give j a bath, lather him up in lavender lotion (wow that's a lot of l's) and then woody puts him to bed. 

We aren't the type who has their baby on a schedule. Some people love this, but I like J making his own schedule. He eats, sleeps and plays when he wants. (within reason of course he's still eating every 2-4 hours so don't think I'm going crazy or anything).

He seems to be doing much better. Although i personally love bathing my baby every night (because he smells so good after) I honestly think the reason j sleeps better now is because he actually goes to bed! Such a novel idea. 

Everyone has their own opinion about the best way to help your baby sleep, things you should do and shouldn't do.  But really your baby is unique and they will decide what they like and what they don't like.  I've heard that you shouldn't spoil your baby by rocking them to sleep, but My baby likes to be rocked to sleep, and I am not complaining :)

A baby named J

My little J man is getting SO big!! He's not even a newborn anymore.

It seems like I've been loving lists lately so let's continue with the new tradition (don't worry not all my blog posts will have lists... well maybe not. No promises)

So what shall I list about today?? How about the baby named J

1. He's still super congested :( woody gets some seriously giganticaly big boogies out. (When is J too old for me to discuss his boogies?? I'm thinking never)

2. He's awake!! Oh HELLO BABY! So good to see your eyes :) he's had some days where he only sleeps in 20 minute increments. I'm not a fan of these. I think he gets over tired. But he's the boss! And if you don't believe me just ask him

3. He smiles and he talks! Now we aren't talking paragraphs or anything but we've gotten some good cooing sentences. And woody is the best at brining out his smiles! Makes mommy a little bit jealous I mean totally happy. Ok. Both. 

4. We have been struggling with sleeping lately. J is the loudest sleeper I have ever heard. He is constantly grunting and moving and I was constantly getting up to check on him. So wood and I decided to move him into his crib in his own room. 

The first night ended like this.  Notice the disgruntled look

After a lot of tears were shed (from j and mom) he ended up in his pack n play in our room. 

The next night went much smoother 

I mean who wouldn't sleep good when you have so many options??

We moved his pack n play into his room and put a nightlight in and he was a much happier baby!!

I'm not sure if j is sleeping better (cuz I no longer hear all his grunts) but I sure am!!

5. He had 2 play dates without me!!

Shanis boys took good care of j money. 

6. J has become an early riser! He likes to wake up around 7 or 8 and is all smiles! It's my favorite part of the day. 

Life around here is getting fun! We are loving our more alert baby who still likes to snuggle

Life. Better or Worse?

When I was nearing the end of my pregnancy and I would answer people's questions of "how are you" with a lack of my usual peppyness I got a lot of "oh just wait. It gets worse"

J mid-sneeze... he is still congested and sneezes whenever he is awake.  It's cute

It gets worse???!!! Although I didn't always believe this earlier in my pregnancy (no one likes to know when they are miserable that they are on an uphill instead of down). I was truly surprised to hear that after giving birth life would be worse then it was at that moment.

Woody loves his J man. Whenever he is home he loves to hog the baby!

Wasn't it supposed to get better? 
I mean
1. I would have my baby

2. I wouldn't be pregnant 
and

3. I would have my baby!!!

J and his buddies.. 3 stages of wakefulness. falling asleep. asleep. awake.

I'm here to tell you. Life is definitely better. Sure you're in a ton some pain after delivery for a couple days but YOU HAVE YOUR BABY and you're NOT PREGNANT. 

J did great at his first real bath!

I remember when people would say this I promised myself I would remember all the reasons why life was better. 

Here's a small list 

1. I am no longer nauseated!!! Wow I wasn't sure that would actually happen

and you have your baby

2. I don't have to eat every 2 hours! 

and you have your baby

3. I don't have to pee every 5 minutes... which means I no longer plan my life around bathroom breaks, now it's around nursing... give and take

and you have your baby

4. You can lay down anyway you want. Any. Way. You. Want. No pillows needed.... Although sitting is a different story for a couple days

and you have your baby

5. I am no longer dizzy! And my heart no longer races!! Feeling human again :)

and you have your baby

6. Although my belly is not the same size as before, it is no longer GINORMOUS 

and you have your baby



One thing I learned is that every pregnancy is SO DIFFERENT.
So for those of you who thought life was worse after birth I am so sorry! That is so sad to me.
 And for those of you who are pregnant and worried about life after birth, my opinion is it is so much better!