I've been remiss in the blog entries since it's been so darn busy with going back to work! Olivia is holding her head up a bit now for about a minute, then she tires and it's on the ground, she's squawking. I blame it on her big head and little body! She's growing cuter every single day! I sit with her after nursing and just stare at her adorable, innocent little face. What will her life be like?
About two days ago, Olivia really started noticing and reaching for the toys hanging from her play gym, and was fascinated with my sweater after nursing. She just staaaared at it, and reached for it. So cute! Her new game is to take the hem of her dress, or her blankie and put it right-in-her-mouth! So cute. She likes quilties like her mama did. :)
Another new game is clasping her hands together in front of her and sticking them both in her mouth. She also likes the single-hand-suck and kicking her play gym toys. Olivia is fascinated with the carseat toy from cousin Walter.... until she cries.
The little girl was a super trooper last Saturday when we drove up to Santa Rosa to visit Natalie & Steve ad their little girls Gabby and Maddy. Adorable. It's Natalie's 30th birthday and they moved up there about two months ago. Super fun to see their new house and go walking in a very nice park - Howarth Park I think was the name. Steve even saw a bobcat by the lake! Sadly, Kevin had to work, and missed out o the terrible traffic on the way home!
I'm drawing a blank on what we did Sunday. Kevin worked. I must have cleaned up around the house and did laundry.
We have Olivia's four-month appointment on Friday morning and will get a better sense for how she's grown. I can't wait to see her weight, I'm guessing around 12 lbs. Perhaps 25 inches? That's my guess!
Oh! and her other trick is rotating 90 - 180 degrees in her crib at night. So funny in her little sleep suits. We have a space heater in her room to keep those little hands warm. So adorable!
Saturday night we hop on a red-eye to MD for Thanksgiving week! Can't wait. We'll finally get to introduce Olivia to the rest of the Litwins and will have some quality time as a family. Olivia and I have missed Kevin the last two weeks while he's been on travel to Denver and then working all weekend. Also looking forward to seeing all the Dunkelbergers and Aunt Annie & Cousin Walter. It'll be a party!
We're hoping to make it to the National Zoo during the trip if weather and work permits. Sadly, both Kevi and I will have to login and do some work while in MD. My return from maternity leave has been a little rough. While I'm working "part time" on the books, the workload has not been adjusted accordingly, neither have expectations. It's very frustrating and ends up stressing me out more than if I had gone back "full time" probably. There's a stigma with part time. I'd much rather actually BE part time and not be made to feel inadequate or somewhat guilty for it. Just a tough job I'm in. Time for a change... another thing to work on while in MD. That, and stretching my hip flexors!
This morning Charlie came over to babysit while I dropped off my brand new car at the shop. There was some leak in the A/C system causing water to leak INTO the car on the passenger side. Kevin helped diagnose by doing a ride-along last weekend. Later in the day, my new-mom friend Shonna came over for lunch and a playdate with her little girl, Kailani, who was born 8/1. We had a lot of fun just hanging out, drinking tea, eating tasty sandwiches and hiding from the POURING rain! Yay rain! Cali needs lots more of it!
OK, I'm super duper tired. Without Kevin here for two weeks, my workdays go like this:
0400ish - feed Olivia when she wakes, snuggle in bed until it's time to get up
0500ish - get up, put Olivia back in her crib, shower, dress, feed dogs and let them out, get as ready for work and daycare as I can before Olivia starts making noises
0600 - Nurse Olivia one more time before leaving - precious moments.
0620 - Off to School! First ones there at 0630
0645 - Off to work!
0715 - At work, and field lots of fires, etc.Pump twice in the Mom room (love it!) Very intense 9 hours
1600 - At the LATEST, leave work and avoid terrible evening traffic
1645ish - Pickup Olivia, chat with the instructors
1715 - Home, nurse, let out and feed dogs
1745 - Start bath & nursing routine
1845 - Olivia asleep in her crib, mom starts her own dinner, washes all the bottles, preps bottles for the eext day of daycare if Monday. Try to show the dogs some attention.
2000ish - log in to work to finish hours for the day - with eyes crossed.
2200ish - sleep/dream-feed Olivia or pump, then lights out!
Varies - wake up and feed Olivia when she's crying
Busy days! As I told Kevin, right now my favorite part about Tuesdays is that I don't work on Wednesday. That means I don't HAVE to do the bottles at night. Sometimes I let the dogs sleep in bed with me (not tonight though). After Thanksgiving, Kevin will be traveling again until Christmas. Mama's not too excited about that - he's missing two months of Olivia's biggest development year. But, that's just how his job with lots of transports has worked out. With Lockheed Martin Space Systems shutting down the Newtown facility and laying a bunch of people off, you have to do what you have to do to stay employed.
OK, it's 2209, time for me to turn off the light. I've been seeing double all night tonight so I really need some sleep. I'll have to add photos later.
Oh! And I now employ the teenage girl across the street to let the dogs out around 3:30 pm after school. Then I don't feel so badly about the dogs being locked up for suck a long time! This was our first week of the dog-sitting and it's gone well! I'm over-paying her, but oh well. Perhaps she'll turn into a babysitter in a few months too. Yay for taking a page from my parents' book, and she was jst talking to her parents about finding a way to make some money. Trixie and Kiwi love her already - Marissa sent a pic the first day of the dogs on her lap trying to lick her face. So cute! Apparently Marissa always wanted a dog. Super cute.
REally, time for bed, Kate. Close the computer! (This is why I need Kevin home - he gets me out of my OCD phases)
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Good Weekend :)
We had Steve & Michelle, and Rob, Roxanne & Wyatt over Saturday night to finally meet Olivia. Kevin took the day off and our house was in pretty good shape for company. Today Kevin had to work most of the day and I finally washed my car. I even managed to vacuum it when Olivia took another nap a few hours later.
Little girl holds her hands together in front of her and is really smiling a lot more these days! She's so cute! She had a little cold/runny nose Friday and Saturday but it appears to be clearing up. Kevin and I can't really say the same - we both feel like we've caught a little something. She's also "talking" a bit more and we have our night time routine down! The only exception was Saturday night when she screamed bloody murder as we tried to put her in the bath. Not happy. Usually the bath calms her down. We think it was just over stimulation from the company and not feeling well. Poor little girl. She's doing better with tummy time too.
It's official, Kevin is traveling next week.... and the week after. Yikes! So I'm enlisting some help with Olivia in order to get all my hours in during the week. Early to bed for Mama!
Speaking of which. Short post today, but at least I wrote something. Time to keep prepping for tomorrow - packing my lunch, packing for Olivia. Fun stuff!
Kate
First Week Back is Over
Now we're sitting in traffic on our way to daycare. Ugh! Terrible traffic all week! I'm settling back into things at work and not too much changed in my absence except for several personnel turnovers. Going back is tough as its hard to get worked up about the same old headaches when there's a super fire little girl I could be hanging out with.
I succeeded in gaining access to the Mother's room in my building. Way nicer than sitting on the sink in a bathroom. The Mother's room has a fancy medela hospital grade pump I can use, a sink, paper towels and a fridge! the fridge is key as we dumped all my milk from Monday - didn't think the cooler kept it cold enough. It's really nice to not have people trying the locked door too. The room also holds a hook entitled the Milk Memos about returning to work pumping from the perspective of real moms. Great reading while doing my thing. I eat lunch on there. Settling into that routine.
Stressing out right now about all this traffic and how late we will be picking up Olivia. Its sad to go home and put her right to sleep. No time to see her during the day.
Yesterday, on my day off, I had to go into work with Olivia to get my compliance training done - crazy.
I may be a single mom next week if Kevin's travel schedule holds. That will be tough.
Well,we made it at 6:00 pm by the skin of our teeth! Olivia was a tired girl!
Monday, November 4, 2013
First Day Back - a Success!
I made it through my first day back at work! There remain a few logistics to sort through, but overall it was a success! We dropped off Olivia at 7:00am at daycare. It was nice and quiet at that hour. We hear that she was a bit fussy in the morning which is odd since she's usually happy in the morning. (Maybe because Sonny and Delored kept that bad girl up past her bedtime last night. :) ) She drank all 15 ozs that we left with them and I only pumped 12 ozs... will need to work on getting my supply up. Quite a balancing act.
We picked her up at 6:00 pm and started the night time routine as soon as we got home. Books aren't a part of the routine yet since she doesn't quite have the interest there, but one day it'll happen. The big news is that today she graduate from the rubbermaid container we used as a bath to the sink itself! My little girl is getting so big! She's asleep now.
Yesterday we had some very positive tummy time - so cute! :)
As for the adults, I'm very proud of myself for thinking ahead and assembling an enchilada casserole yesterday that smells delicious! I just popped it in the oven before giving Olivia her bath tonight. I'm waiting for access to the Mother's Room at work so the bathroom with a door lock and I were friends today. I sure hope I don't have to do that again tomorrow - awkward sitting on the sink. The saddest part is that since I didn't really think to / didnt' have a good fridge to put the milk in, we dumped it all when we got home. :( Good thing I have a little bit stashed in the freezer, but not enough to make that mistake twice! So, fingers crossed that I gain access to the Mother's Room tomorrow where there's a fridge. Otherwise, it's going to be a week of getting all my old accounts reactivated. I have a loaner laptop so I'm mostly functional so far. :)
Kevin is out doing dad errands right now - picking up our first BIG box of size 2 diapers (getting close to needing those) and a space heater for Olivia's bedroom. Her little fingers were so cold this morning! I'm waiting for him to eat dinner and am enjoying a glass of wine to relax. It's amazing how quickly my stress level rises at good ol' LM. A good number of the people I worked with on a daily basis have left the program. All but one of them left the company. Happy to be employed, and happy to have such a flexible boss that I can work part time through the end of the year.
Time to make my lunch and pull out the frozen milk to thaw in the fridge overnight. Lots of logistics to turnover on a daily basis. Oh, Kevin caulked part of the master bedroom crown moulding yesterday, but the mattress had gotten we from sitting off to the side near the master bathroom where we'd had that big leak. So, we'll probably sleep in the guest room again tonight.
Dinner time!
We picked her up at 6:00 pm and started the night time routine as soon as we got home. Books aren't a part of the routine yet since she doesn't quite have the interest there, but one day it'll happen. The big news is that today she graduate from the rubbermaid container we used as a bath to the sink itself! My little girl is getting so big! She's asleep now.
Yesterday we had some very positive tummy time - so cute! :)
As for the adults, I'm very proud of myself for thinking ahead and assembling an enchilada casserole yesterday that smells delicious! I just popped it in the oven before giving Olivia her bath tonight. I'm waiting for access to the Mother's Room at work so the bathroom with a door lock and I were friends today. I sure hope I don't have to do that again tomorrow - awkward sitting on the sink. The saddest part is that since I didn't really think to / didnt' have a good fridge to put the milk in, we dumped it all when we got home. :( Good thing I have a little bit stashed in the freezer, but not enough to make that mistake twice! So, fingers crossed that I gain access to the Mother's Room tomorrow where there's a fridge. Otherwise, it's going to be a week of getting all my old accounts reactivated. I have a loaner laptop so I'm mostly functional so far. :)
Kevin is out doing dad errands right now - picking up our first BIG box of size 2 diapers (getting close to needing those) and a space heater for Olivia's bedroom. Her little fingers were so cold this morning! I'm waiting for him to eat dinner and am enjoying a glass of wine to relax. It's amazing how quickly my stress level rises at good ol' LM. A good number of the people I worked with on a daily basis have left the program. All but one of them left the company. Happy to be employed, and happy to have such a flexible boss that I can work part time through the end of the year.
Time to make my lunch and pull out the frozen milk to thaw in the fridge overnight. Lots of logistics to turnover on a daily basis. Oh, Kevin caulked part of the master bedroom crown moulding yesterday, but the mattress had gotten we from sitting off to the side near the master bathroom where we'd had that big leak. So, we'll probably sleep in the guest room again tonight.
Dinner time!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Preparing to Return to Work
It's been a nice break, but tomorrow, I have to return to work. :( At first I didn't think it possible for me to be a stay at home mom... but now with the prospect of returning to the silly squabbles at work and travel, I think I'd be ok with staying home with Olivia. I will admit that I'm tired of cycling laundry, but that's mostly the dogs peeing on the rugs.
Olivia is doing much better with tummy time now. She doesn't start crying right away. :) She is cooing much more and smiling a little more. Night bedtime is fairly stable around 7pm (now 6pm with the time change!) Last night we had dinner at the Reilly's and Olivia fell asleep in the car and slept through the whole visit! I fed her a tad when we got home and then it was sleepy time. :) Olivia sleeps most of the way through the night and I dream feed her around 11pm right before turning in for the night. Hopefully she'll gain a bit more weight from me doing that. Her naps are not regular yet, but we'll see how she settles in over the next couple weeks. Right now she takes 3-4 short naps during the day at varying times.
Olivia is graduating to size 2 diapers this week (12-18 lbs) even though she's only just shy of 11 lbs. I figure it's easier to go up a step than buy a small pack of the size 1s. She loves the toy from cousin Walter that spans her bassinet and has spinny, musicky, flashing lighty thingies on it. :) Mom and Dad like it too because Olivia is occupied for a few minutes. Otherwise, she loves to be up on your shoulder, looking around the room. This morning we propped her sitting up in bed and she was trying to turn her head 360 degrees! Silly little girlie!
I've been spending time today figuring out pumping logistics for work. Not sure how that's going to work out the first day, but we'll see. I'm hoping we manage to get up early so we can leave early. Otherwise, I'm uploading photos to smugmug to catch up, and intend to assemble and enchilada casserole for dinner during the week. I'll also do one last layer of leather protectant on my fancy Texas boots!
Kevin is out figuring our materials to caulk and touch up the beautiful crown moulding that was installed throughout the house last week. What a difference that moulding makes! Trina, the installer, made a few mistakes (boards too short) but overall the effect is fabulous! Once the caulking and finishing is all done it'll be even better. I think that was the last major whole-house upgrade! No more moving furniture out onto the back patio! Now, if only we could get rid of the last bits of clutter, clear the garage and do the master bathroom, and finish the door frames and window frames, we'd be ready for Christmas! I'm so ready to be done with the house remodeling and to have our weekends for other stuff. I'm pretty sure Kevin is even more tired of the reno than I am since he does all the hard work!
So, while I was on maternity leave we:
1) had a beautiful baby girl, Olivia Eleanor :)
2) kept Olivia alive and healthy and growing for 3 months
3) found and started daycare
4) figured out pumping and have kept it up (though I'm not sure I'll make it a whole year)
5) had hardwood floors installed
5) installed and caulked the baseboards
6) had crown moulding installed
7) chose and planted two Autumn Blaze maples along the street
8) agreed on the other trees that will be planted in the backyard
9) planted all my little plants along the periphery of the backyard (I did that :) )
10) bought a new computer and started getting used to Windows8 (ugh!)
11) bought a new fancy camera
12) hosted Gparents B
13) stopped a little water leak in the master bathroom
14) cancelled our Murietta's Well wine club and picked up the final shipment
15) hired a property manager and got the 1690 Civic Center home rented
16) I'm sure some other stuff I don't remember. Oh, and met a few other local new moms that I'm trying to keep a relationship with and getting Smugmug handled.
I didn't quite get to:
1) Resume updates
2) Budgeting/Finance/Insurance updates
3) Washing my car
4) learning how to use the new camera
5) finish reading the Sleep Habits book from Annie & Joel
6) transferring all my music from the old computer to new one.
OK, since Olivia is still sleeping, it's time to put that casserole together and upload some more photos. Eventually I'll add pics to this blog too.... eventually.
Olivia is doing much better with tummy time now. She doesn't start crying right away. :) She is cooing much more and smiling a little more. Night bedtime is fairly stable around 7pm (now 6pm with the time change!) Last night we had dinner at the Reilly's and Olivia fell asleep in the car and slept through the whole visit! I fed her a tad when we got home and then it was sleepy time. :) Olivia sleeps most of the way through the night and I dream feed her around 11pm right before turning in for the night. Hopefully she'll gain a bit more weight from me doing that. Her naps are not regular yet, but we'll see how she settles in over the next couple weeks. Right now she takes 3-4 short naps during the day at varying times.
Olivia is graduating to size 2 diapers this week (12-18 lbs) even though she's only just shy of 11 lbs. I figure it's easier to go up a step than buy a small pack of the size 1s. She loves the toy from cousin Walter that spans her bassinet and has spinny, musicky, flashing lighty thingies on it. :) Mom and Dad like it too because Olivia is occupied for a few minutes. Otherwise, she loves to be up on your shoulder, looking around the room. This morning we propped her sitting up in bed and she was trying to turn her head 360 degrees! Silly little girlie!
I've been spending time today figuring out pumping logistics for work. Not sure how that's going to work out the first day, but we'll see. I'm hoping we manage to get up early so we can leave early. Otherwise, I'm uploading photos to smugmug to catch up, and intend to assemble and enchilada casserole for dinner during the week. I'll also do one last layer of leather protectant on my fancy Texas boots!
Kevin is out figuring our materials to caulk and touch up the beautiful crown moulding that was installed throughout the house last week. What a difference that moulding makes! Trina, the installer, made a few mistakes (boards too short) but overall the effect is fabulous! Once the caulking and finishing is all done it'll be even better. I think that was the last major whole-house upgrade! No more moving furniture out onto the back patio! Now, if only we could get rid of the last bits of clutter, clear the garage and do the master bathroom, and finish the door frames and window frames, we'd be ready for Christmas! I'm so ready to be done with the house remodeling and to have our weekends for other stuff. I'm pretty sure Kevin is even more tired of the reno than I am since he does all the hard work!
So, while I was on maternity leave we:
1) had a beautiful baby girl, Olivia Eleanor :)
2) kept Olivia alive and healthy and growing for 3 months
3) found and started daycare
4) figured out pumping and have kept it up (though I'm not sure I'll make it a whole year)
5) had hardwood floors installed
5) installed and caulked the baseboards
6) had crown moulding installed
7) chose and planted two Autumn Blaze maples along the street
8) agreed on the other trees that will be planted in the backyard
9) planted all my little plants along the periphery of the backyard (I did that :) )
10) bought a new computer and started getting used to Windows8 (ugh!)
11) bought a new fancy camera
12) hosted Gparents B
13) stopped a little water leak in the master bathroom
14) cancelled our Murietta's Well wine club and picked up the final shipment
15) hired a property manager and got the 1690 Civic Center home rented
16) I'm sure some other stuff I don't remember. Oh, and met a few other local new moms that I'm trying to keep a relationship with and getting Smugmug handled.
I didn't quite get to:
1) Resume updates
2) Budgeting/Finance/Insurance updates
3) Washing my car
4) learning how to use the new camera
5) finish reading the Sleep Habits book from Annie & Joel
6) transferring all my music from the old computer to new one.
OK, since Olivia is still sleeping, it's time to put that casserole together and upload some more photos. Eventually I'll add pics to this blog too.... eventually.
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