I have Changed

They say that parenthood changes a person. It does. There are way too many to mention, but it hit me the other day when I was at the nail salon. (OK, so some things have not changed. ha ha. Well, I haven't had a manicure or pedicure since Joshua was born, and I can't remember the last time I went 3 months without having either. Please give me some credit). Back at the nail salon, they had a stack of magazines. I passed over Lucky, Shape, and even Vogue. I picked up.... Are you ready for this? ......................... Working Mother Magazine!
And, I even enjoyed reading it.
It made me realize that plenty of women make both raising a family and being a successful business woman work. The key is flexibility by the employer. I don't work for a company that offers anything even remotely close to what some of the other companies in the magazine offer. But, if I can have a quiet, private place to pump, a little shorter work day/week, and a little less stress in my work day - then I will be happy too.

The Nanny Search Begins

Keith and I decided that we didn't want to send Josh to daycare. Since me staying at home is not an option either, we need to turn to hiring a nanny. Keith's mom has agreed to watch Josh 2x per week, and I am going to have Fridays off, so we need to find a nanny 2x per week. Nannies are expensive. A 5 day a week nanny can cost $700-750/week. Who has that kind of money? Even for our 2 days per week need, it is still expensive.

If you want to get your child into the right day care, you need to pretty much start the search before you even conceive. By the time you are out of your first trimester, you better have deposits down at several day care centers or you are screwed. In my Mommy & Me class, everyone was talking about their day care statuses whether it was a day care center, in-home, or nanny share. It made me realize that I needed to get my butt in gear.

I started my nanny search by posting an ad on dcurbanmom and Craig's List as well as responding to a few ads. I also called a nanny agency, but they said they don't really do part time. Trying to respond to people in between taking care of Josh has been a real challenge. It also has been more difficult in getting responses to people who are available only 2 days. Plus, half of the responses I was getting were by nannies who A. wanted to bring their child B. not authorized to work in the US or C. wanted to start tomorrow and not wait until January.

I started interviewing the nannies and it was nerve-wrecking. These women all seem nice, but how do I really know if they are good enough to leave alone with my son. I went through all the basic questions with everyone, and it allowed me to get a sense of everything. I assumed for 2 days per week I would just be paying them hourly as a 1099 employee. Well, one nanny wanted vacation, sick days, 10 holidays, and her taxes done. Hello high maintenance! During the process, we interviewed one woman who really stuck out. She seemed to be what I was looking for in a nanny. I set up a second interview for Keith to meet her and we shall see...

Sleeping Through the Night - Part 3

Please don't let me jinx myself by posting this! Joshua is now sleeping through the night. (Fingers crossed). For the past week, he has slept until some time between 5am and 6:30am. What has been working for Josh is to keep him awake (sort of) until his later evening feeding. (Somewhere between 9:45pm and 11pm). After that feeding, he goes to sleep until morning. Our plan is to slowly make that feeding a little earlier until he eventually has his last feeding at an earlier infant bedtime. Fingers crossed that this plan works.

10 Weeks

When am I ever going to have 4 months off again to be with my son? I need to enjoy every second of this time, and I do. I am actually starting to enjoy being home now that I am pretty much healed from giving birth and getting into the groove of being home.
Yet,
The countdown to going back to work has begun.....
Part of me doesn't want to go back. Yet I don't exactly see myself as a stay-at-home-mom or SAHM if I want to be cool. The days where I get out of the house and get things done, I enjoy. The days where I am home all day and it seems that Josh is either eating, being changed or acting fussy where I can't put him down, I long for a demanding 9 hour work day.
The countdown has begun, and it is now 7 weeks until I go back to work. I will definitely miss my days home with Josh, so I need to continue to enjoy every second with him and be thankful that I get this time with him now.

Update: Josh is getting stronger each day in holding up his head. I guess tummy time is helping. He is continuing to bat at the things hanging from his activity mat, and he is starting to grab at things. Josh also likes to "talk" now, and his coo noises are oh so cute!

2 Months

Wow, it has been 2 months since Joshua was born. Keith keeps saying, "He is such a good baby". "He is such a cute baby". "He is much better than expected". What did Keith expect?

Joshua is now smiling at us all the time. It is so wonderful to walk over to my son, say hello, and see his face light up. I don't think I will get that in 13 years. :) Joshua is getting bigger each day. He is now up to 10 pounds. The other day, Joshua had his shots. He was so brave. I think he was braver than Mommy.

Tummy Time

Or, maybe we should call it "Tummy Torture". This is the time we spend with Josh playing on his tummy. The doctor told us to place Josh on his tummy 3 times a day for 10 minutes. The reason for tummy time is to strenghen the baby's neck muscles. Since babies sleep on their backs, they spend most of their time on their backs. Therefore, it is important to place babies on their stomachs for some play time. When we were growing up, it was common to place the babies to sleep on their stomachs, so tummy time was not as much of an issue.

Why tummy torture? Josh (as well as other babies) don't like tummy time. I guess you wouldn't either if you tried to lift a big heavy object with your weak muscles. Josh usually spends the time making grunting noises as he tries to lift his head off the ground and from side to side. Each week, he can lift it a little higher. Each week, his grunting noises get softer. The whole time, Mommy and Daddy are lying there right next to Josh cheering him on.

Joshua's Nursery

Well, Joshua's nursery is finally 100% completed. It was definitely a work in progress, and we are pleased with the results. Shortly after we closed on the townhouse, Josh's room got painted. A few days after that, Josh's empty room turned into chaos as his clothes of all sizes were spread out throughout the room. I had separated all the clothes given to us by size and the type of article of clothing. (For example, size 0-3 onesies all went into the same pile). Keith didn't really believe that the room was organized as it looked like a bomb went off in there. No furniture yet. Just a floor full of baby clothes. The first installation was the switch plate and night light. That was the easy part. A few days later, Joshua was born. When Joshua got out of the hospital, there was still no furniture. Therefore, his floor turned into his dresser drawers. 3 1/2 weeks after Josh was born, his furniture finally came. Luckily, it was nice furniture that arrived all put together and not self-assembly IKEA-type furniture. Keith had a lot of fun organizing the drawers, and it felt good to finally have furniture. However, Joshua's room was not complete. There was still a lot of work to be done.

We ordered a wall mirror that matched the furniture. Keith and his dad installed that about 2 weeks after the furniture arrived. After the mirror was installed, I walked into the room. It turned out that they placed the mirror in a position that only a 6 foot grown adult can enjoy it. Another project had to be added to the list to lower the mirror. After the mirror was installed, the next project was to build shelves in the closet. Upon completion of that, block letters were added to spell "Joshua" on the wall above his crib. Only 2 more projects to go, and then his nursury would be complete. First the valance and sheers were put up. Finally, the wall border went around the room.

By 8 weeks old, Josh finally had a completed nursery. Now, if only we can get him to start sleeping in there. One thing at a time....

Much thanks goes out to Keith's dad for a lot of the work on the room and cousin Mike for the painting.

Sleeping Through the Night - Part 2

Well, I spoke too soon. Josh's 5am wake ups have not been as consistent and he still has Mommy waking up at 3am for a middle of the night feeding. Joshua is still practically eating every 2 hours, and I thought by now he would be up to every 4 hours. Our little man likes to eat!!! He now weighs 9 1/2 pounds, and he is definitely getting bigger.