Tardy for the (New Year's) Party

I feel like getting this post up only one day late is actually pretty impressive. The only reason it's getting done is I have a mountain of laundry sitting here and I will do just about anything to procastinate putting it away. We just returned from a very long trip home to Massachusetts. We celebrated our first christmas with JJ (who is one spoiled baby, I must say) and rang in the New Year at my best friend Alissa's wedding. She married a wonderful man, looked absolutely amazing and the wedding was SO much fun. The after party is still a bit hazy...but I feel like any good after party should be :)



I spent 8 hours in a car on New Years Day, which left a lot of time to reflect on the last year. I rang in 2010 VERY sober and newly pregnant and rang in 2011 very much not sober and spending the night away from my son for the very first time. I not only welcomed this beautiful boy into my life, but have a wonderful baby nephew now too! It's really been quite an eventful year. I know 2011 is going to be equally as exciting. We have quite a few big plans, including a 1st birthday party for JJ which I may or may not be already planning :) Work shows no signs of being less crazy. And because it's just that time of life...we have no less than 4 weddings to attend and quite a few babies on the way that we can't wait to meet!

As I sit here and write this, I can hear my nearly 6 month old baby chatting away, while rolling around on the ground. I'm amazed every day by how many changes are happening. I'm pretty sure we're into full fledged teething mode, if the fountain of drool is any indication. He's eating lots of new yummy foods...applesauce, pears, bananas and mom's favorite...avacado! The one bittersweet experience that I'm currently struggling with is I just finished breastfeeding. My goal was 6 months and I'm just one week shy of that. It was such an amazing thing, I'm so glad we were able to make it work. But with being back at work full time, it was just not working anymore. I'm sort of sad about it. Luckily, I still have LOTS of milk in the freezer and I have to be honest, I'm sort of excited about ditching the nursing bras :)

Happy 2011 everyone...I hope this year is even better than the last!

One year ago today...

We found out we were expecting! Its SO crazy to me. It seems like it's been a really long year...but that it was yesterday all at the same time. From what I hear, it only gets worse from here. Time goes faster and faster. I remember we were at Home Depot buying lights for our christmas tree and I had the strangest cramps. I went home and took a pregnancy test, after testing negative just a week earlier. And voila! Baby on the way! I promptly took another test. Then I cried. Both out of extreme happiness and my HOLY CRAP IT WORKED (and so quickly!) reaction! hehe. Anyways, it was such an exciting night...and now I get to enjoy all the memories while holding my beautiful little boy.

Look at him!



He sure does LOVE his bath time now! He figured out how to splash. I now could use a raincoat while I give him his bath. But it's so much fun!

I'm just going to pretend like it hasn't been nearly a month since I last posted anything. I have no idea where the time went. I would imagine this month won't be much better. My life has gone totally insane lately. In fact, I'd say it's been the last 2 months that have been a complete blur. The whole moving, returning to work full time and learning how to be a full time mom and full time employee has been...challenging. But it's so worth it. I've never been so tired, yet so fulfilled in my whole life. And when I say tired. I mean tired to the bone. WOW.

Oh and remember how I said, oh I'll take a few months and see how my work schedule is working out? Well, work had other ideas. I'll post more on this later...but I've NEVER been this busy at work. NEVER. EVER :)

This post is so scattered. It perfectly reflects how my brain is functioning right now. I'll try to pull my thoughts together and post again in less than a months time. I have lots of fun stories to share about all the growing and changing that's been going on around here!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

It's off to work I go. Or went. *sigh* Those were the fastest 16 weeks of my life. The last day I was at work was July 12 when I left the office in a crazy "doctor called and said go to the hospital" whirlwind! I missed an entire third of the year and in Cushman and Wakefield time that's practically an eternity. There are so many new faces and some really wonderful people have left. I will say this much, my boss missed me. It's good to be missed :)

Before I got pregnant, or even when I was expecting, I never imagined it would be so hard to head back to work. I'm feeling pretty proud that I only cried in the ladies room once. And maybe a little bit before I left on Monday morning. Both JJ and I had some seperation anxiety. He put up a bit of a hunger strike and I had MAJOR baby withdrawl by 4:00 pm. (want to guess what time I was in the bathroom crying??). I know it's going to get easier with time. At least I hope so. It's going to be a few weeks of working on a new morning routine and getting LOTS of cuddle time at night. Do I sound crazy to say part of me was like...awwww JJ missed his mommy! He was as sad as me! But no, that's not right. I want him to be happy, healthy and independent. But missing me just a little this first week is ok ;)

But seriously, who wouldn't be sad to leave this sweet baby? Look at him!! I know many of you already saw this picture on facebook, but I'm obsessed with it.



I've promised myself to take a few months and get into the groove of things before I really try to analyze how I think it's working out. Right now, I'm having a gut reaction of this being terrible, awful, no good, very bad. I seriously can't think of one good reason I can't carry the baby with me all day at work! I want to work and not leave him all at the same time. Normal, right? Please say yes!

Oh and pumping at work is not the most fun thing to do. I'm dedicated to making this work, I really want to keep breastfeeding for another few months at the bare minimum. But it's not going to be easy. I'm trying to tell myself it's a good opportunity to sit back and relax for 15 minutes a few times a day. Organize my thoughts, day dream about holding my little man :) I'm hoping this is another thing that will get easier with time. Fingers crossed.

I discovered my brain is a bit rusty after 4 months out of work! Just getting through email was a challenge. I won't even tell you how difficult I was finding it to update my monthly office calendar. If everyone can just speak very slowly and repeat themselves often for the next week or so, I think that would be best. Baby turned my brain to mush and I'm assuming it's not appropriate to randomly starting telling people about llama llama red pajama on conference calls.

But for all my complaining, it was sort of nice to be back in the land of adults. I put on make up, high heels and had normal conversation all day long. Did you know that I used to do this every day? It seems so forgeign right now!! The nice thing is, between wearing maternity clothes and being on maternity leave, my work clothes actually haven't seen the light of day in a LONG time. It's been so much less of a struggle to figure out what to wear. I haven't worn any of it in ages! Nothing is boring...yet. Give that a week. Most of it even fits. Not all, but most. Gotta keep working at those last few baby pounds! joy...

Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool

How chill is this baby? :)

Or should I say, how chill is this 3 month old baby?? 3 MONTHS! When did this happen?

JJ is so alert now. Chatting up a storm, smiling, watching us very closely (gotta watch that PDA now! hehe). Best part though...he's sleeping at night. For many hours at a time. One night, it just started. 3 hours one night and then the next night...6 hours! He's gone as long as 9 hours. All of which means, I'm sleeping! Woo hoo. It's one of my favorite things to do. No seriously, it is. If my mattress wasn't approximately 150 years old, I bet I'd like it even more.

My time at home is winding down. Sniffle. I'm lucky enough that I work in DC and FMLA is 16 weeks instead of 12. I had initially planned on being back to work after 12-14 weeks and well, that all changed the moment this little boy entered my life. It's been tough, but I think taking all 16 weeks was absolutely the right thing to do. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Well, onward and upward! Let's see what month 4 has to offer. I know one thing, at least...JJ will have a new baby cousin to meet!! Any day now. Sooner than later we hope :)

Blah Blah Blah

Warning: cute baby sounds can turn your brain to mush. Or is that just me?



Apparently, creating an unholy poopy diaper can make a baby very chatty. I won't go into detail, but needless to say I'm still traumatized.

At long last...the nursery!

Here it is! The Beatles themed nursery I've been talking about for months! We're really happy with how it came out. I wish I was even slighly proficient in taking pictures, I really can do no justice to how cute it is.



Here was the first of several projects we did. I found that fantastic Beatles fabric online and used my mad sewing skills to hem it to the right length for a tablecloth (yay for sewing in straight lines!) That lamp was previously...dirty. Is that a color? Because that's the best description I have :) So we painted that and I added the ribbon for a little extra something. April gave me those great pins, that had previously been used on the diaper cake she made for my shower. I think it turned out really cute!



This shelf was the next project we worked on. It was something I salvaged out of my grandma's house after she passed away, so I like the fact that it found a new home in my son's room. It used to be U-G-L-Y...off white and dark red. I spent time during snowpocolypse 2010 sanding it down and prepping it. Then we finally got around to painting it later in the spring.



I'm especially in love with the yellow submarine lunch box that adorns it. Its a gift from Granny Franny :)



The next two shots are just of the cubey storage units we went with instead of getting drawers. Plus, you can see some of the great framed album covers I scored on Ebay. I found 8 all together and I'm anxious to get my hands on a few more. Another big thanks to my coworker, Merridy. She not only sent me a few albums, but is responsible for many of the other items you see. We're both big Beatles fans!





The only project that I didn't get a picture of are the Yellow Submarine seat cushions I made for the rocking chair. I used instructions from my friend Stephanie's blog and it was really easy! Again, just sewing in straight lines...but I really impressed myself by making them the right size. Who knew I could use a tape measure!



Last, but not least...I had to get a shot of the little guy in his crib! Enjoying that mobile again :) I know I'm biased, but is he the sweetest thing or what?!?

Enchanted

I'm not positive...but I'm pretty sure this is what being enchanted looks like. JJ can really focus on things now and loves his mobile. (big thanks to one Miss Stephanie Sterling for the awesome mobile that by coincidence totally matches the nursery!)

The best part of this is that I got to shower while he ohhhed, ahhhed and stared at that mobile! Let me repeat, I got A SHOWER! woo hoo :)

JJ is such a happy baby lately. Lots of smiles, lots of cute little squeaks. He has been spending a lot more time awake and not crying! who knew...

enjoy!