It's over....

This is my highly dramatic, emotional post about my maternity leave ending. I know I am going to be fine, that Halas will be fine, and that I'll actually be happier once I'm back working again (in the long run). But the first few days back are so hard. Getting myself on a schedule, working on little sleep, pumping, and only seeing the girls for a few hours.  I'm not worried about Maddyn- since she did preschool this year, she hasn't been home every day and she LOVES being in daycare/preschool. With Halas- it's just hard b/c she's still so little. I just want to pick her up and give her all kinds of hugs.

We went out this morning and saw Santa Claus. Once I go back, our weekends are all booked and it is just too crowded to deal with hour long lines on the weekends and evenings. So we thought, why not do it now quick? It was great- we walked right up and weren't rushed at all.  Maddyn did great this year, and didn't have any crying tantrums. She did have to sit on Dave's lap- but we were much improved from past years! She even talked to Santa a little bit.

I got some photos of the girls in their cute outfits as well. I'll post those in a bit!
Here's the photo of Santa & the girls at the mall:

And here is one of the two of them before we left- I'll post the rest on Shutterfly!

Sick kid makes for fun night...

I only wish! So today was my last official weekday off of Leave. I'm sad about it, but planned to do lunch with a friend and just snuggle Halas all day.  What Maddyn didn't realize is that her getting sick at 2 am put a slight damper on those plans. (snort)  I awoke to her crying for Dave and I, and getting sick out of the blue. Poor thing.  She got sick a few times, and Dave stayed in there while I disinfected the entire house. I was terrified that Halas was gonna get whatever Maddyn had. I'm sure it was quite the funny site seeing me scrubbing everything down with bleach and water at 3 am.  Yawn!

But, the good news is that she didn't have a fever, and woke up feeling fine. I was worried b/c of the cases of Norovirus going around- but she luckily didn't have any of the symptoms.  She was healthy all day today and so far- no one else feels sick (praying it stays that way). So now I'm wondering if it was something she ate. I'm so glad she's doing better.  In the end, she stayed home from Preschool and just got to lounge around with Halas and I, so it was a great last weekday together for us. I'm gonna miss these little muchkins.

Now, if only I could have gotten to any of those 8 things on my To Do list today.  Ouch. I'm going to try to get to it this weekend, but I really do wish there were about 28 hours in a day vs 24 so I could get it all done!!  If anyone can make that happen, that'd be great ;)

Roll on over....

That's right, we have rolling!! Today Erica and the boys were over, and I set Halas on her playmat for a moment while I was in the laundry room. I look over and realize that she was rolling from back to stomach. I started getting excited and cheering her on- and it scared her- she pushed herself over to her back again!! So exciting! So 3.5 months old. Holy cow! She did it a few more times randomly, and that was it. I'll try to get a video to throw up here (though, I realize this is exciting for Dave & I and probably no one else, LOL).
That's all for now, but I wanted to journal it so I don't forget!!

1,000 ounces of milk in the freezer. 1,000 ounces of milk....

sing with me....I finally hit 1,000 oz of frozen milk this week. I know this might seem crazy to someone that hasn't gone through this- so bear with me since this is a slightly big deal to me.  For anyone that has nursed, you will likely agree that pumping is a huge pain in the butt. It's not fun, requires dedication, and there are even times it makes you crazy (Come on, tell me I'm not alone in thinking that my pump has talked to me....you know, those weird noises it makes- especially at 3 in the morning). 

Since I'm going back to work next week, and have to travel once I'm back, I wanted to build a large stash. I have set a more realistic expectation of making it to 6 months before introducing formula. As much as I'd like to go longer, I know with work/travel, it will be hard to do.  By having a large supply available in reserves, it helps me relax a little in case I hit any glitches along the way.

I didn't "get" nursing before I did it myself. Yet, I was surprised at how much I missed it when I weaned with Maddyn. This time around with Halas, it has been so much easier. Adding a pumping session each day wasn't that hard, but I had to force myself to do it so I could keep building the stash. 

Anyhoo- here's a photo of some of the bags- you can see there are hundreds.  There are more in our kitchen freezer too, but it's embarrassingly unorganized. Thanks for letting me pat myself on the back on this one- b/c it sure wasn't easy. 

She really can be sweet...

There are moments I wonder who replaced my almost-3-year-old with the head-spinning-tantrum-acting kid in Maddyn's body.  Those moments seem to happen more frequently. Then again, it might be that I am home now and just witness them more often ;)  Jokes aside, I do love those days that I get to see how grown up and mature she can be. Today was one of those days.

Maddyn is a bookworm. The one thing that will always make her happy is reading books.  Today, she wanted to read to Halas. She asked if I could put Halas in the swing so she could read to her.  It was great seeing Maddyn enjoy her big sister role. These are camera phone pics, so not great, but you can see that she was loving it!

I'll also try to upload the video...

Every day is her birthday...

Trying to explain the full concept of birthdays to an almost-3-year-old is impossible.  She loves singing the song, blowing out the candles, doing a little dance, and making cupcakes. But trying to explain to her that it is not her birthday?? Big fat fail!  Grandma's birthday was Monday, so we celebrated by making cupcakes on Sunday.  Maddyn loved making cupcakes, but didn't understand that it wasn't her birthday.  We reminded her that her birthday is around the corner, and she even wished Grandma a Happy Birthday- but she wanted to know where her presents were. Needless to say, she was confused. LOL. Oh well, she'll get them soon enough I guess!!

Anyone that knows me, knows I don't really like cake. I can't stand icing/frosting (I'm a salt craver, sweets do me in and icing/frosting is just too much), so my preferred cake of choice is the DQ Ice Cream Cake. I do like the spongy part of the cake, but it seems silly to eat just half of it.  We made cupcakes for Grandma's birthday and yes- you might see a few bottomless cupcakes in my trash now, lol. The frosting was too much, but with the added sugary sprinkles Maddyn loaded on, it was overkill.  Here are some photos of her in action! Happy Birthday Grandma!

15 weeks is only fast when...

you go back to work after 16 weeks off ;)  Yes, it's hard to believe that 15 weeks have passed. I just went back and reread my much-more-frequent-updates I had written when I was off with Maddyn.  It seemed like my leave went slower with her, though, I know it didn't.  We had playdates and GTGs every day this week and it was refreshing to spend time with friends and family. For this last week, I have a few GTGs scheduled, but I also just want to sit at home and snuggle.  At least the weather will be perfect for it!!

I had so much on my "to do" list for my Maternity Leave. I did about 25% of it.  I'm a little annoyed with myself that I wasn't more productive, but it's too late to do anything about it now. This week, I'm going to try to at least get caught up on my photos and take care of the big things, and just let the rest wait.

Looking at the bright side: I'm excited to go back to work and get into a routine again. I'm excited to really get on board with getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm excited to have adult conversations again.  So I'll just keep telling myself those things, right? I'll forget about the things like pumping, less time with the kiddos, and overall lack of sleep I'll be getting for awhile ;)

We have switched Halle's medicine yet again. Poor thing. We're just plowing through all the AR meds like we did with Maddyn.  We're now on Prevacid. If this doesn't work, the testing will begin. We've been lucky to avoid it so far- but that's mostly b/c we knew a lot of the signs from Maddyn.  So fingers crossed this works. Maddyn's asthma is still acting up as well. We're going to give it a few days and see if the weather has been triggering it. It's been crazy here- 30s one day, 70s the next!

I'm playing with the blog, trying to make it more fun and once I'm in a routine I'll update it regularly. If anything, for myself!! I have been realizing that I forget things if they aren't journaled...like timeframes for first teeth, rolling, etc.  LOL  Halle is teething pretty badly. I swore Maddyn got her first tooth at 3 months, but upon going back and reading it was more like 4.5.  LOL- so good thing I wrote things down!  We'll see when this little tooth breaks through- but she's got the swollen gums, massive drooling and white spot on the gum already. Crazy!    I've noticed she's trying to roll as well. Nothing yet, but we'll see if it happens soon!

So for now, off to enjoy this last week with the girlies.

Another week, another Neb

With this cold weather, comes another Neb (nebulizer) for Maddyn. Such a pain. I feel so helpless. Her coughing spells are at their worst in the winter, but since we've been on the Singulair since last Dec, they have improved. We had a nice 3 month divorce from the Neb, but it's ba-aaack...   We went to the doctor today to discuss other asthma control options. Whether a med like Pulmicort or Flovent would be better than her current Singulair/Xopenex/ProAir/Zyrtec combo (as needed).  They really think that at this point, since she's been doing so great- we should hold off.  If Maddyn has another spell this winter where we need the Neb again- then we'll talk about adding a controller to her medication cocktail and eliminating something else.  So we wait....and hope we don't need that Neb for awhile!

We also had an appointment for Halas today. Did you  know that they don't offer discounts on a 2-fer ;) That's two appointments at one time, ha! Halas's appt was to discuss her reflux.  We have been noticing that her spells are getting bad again and the Pepcid doesnt' appear to be working. So Dr R is calling our pediatric GI to discuss putting Halas on Prevacid. It's the game of just trial and error- what we went through with Maddyn- but we are hoping to avoid all of the invasive tests Maddyn went through. We have a mtg tomorrow with both doctors to see what our plan will be.

It's hard in this case, b/c Maddyn was such a bad/extreme case of GERD/DGE that I wonder if I've waited too long or haven't been proactive enough with Halas. The poor thing. I decided today, after rereading some of my old posts on Maddyn's health that it was time to start being more pushy with the docs on Halas's AR this time, b/c I could truly tell something's not right. I just wish I hadn't waited so long. I do think the Pepcid worked a little, but I should have known better that when she kept doing nursing strikes that something was up.  So stay tuned, hopefully I'll have more news tomorrow.

On another front, just 2 more weeks until I go back to work. Wow, time is flying.  I am excited to get back into the working world with adult conversation, clothes without adjustable waists, and talk that includes words longer than 1 syllable. However, I am going to miss snuggling with my little girls and just the quality time with them. I know I'm meant to be a working mom, but those first weeks are tough.  At least week 1 ends with a big ole' Turkey Feast ;)

In the meantime, I am planning for a busy weekend. I was supposed to hit a winery with a friend tomorrow and then enjoy the fruits of our tastings...but she's out sick. So instead, tomorrow is going to be dedicated to shopping for our photoshoot next week. I am severly behind on that.  Sunday I have a baby shower for a friend up in the Arctic (read as Wisconsin) and then a costume party for the girls in the later part of the day. If only people knew that Sundays are "dont' leave the house days" from Sept-Feb, except on bye weeks! LOL

Happy Halloween & 3 Months Old

Wow- i can't believe that Halas is 3 months old already!! Wow, does time fly. We are still recovering from our Disney trip, but it was a fun-filled weekend.

On Saturday we went down to Aunt Sal and Uncle Ray's to see their Halloween decorations. It's becoming an annual trip, and this year didn't disappoint. So much fun! Maddyn loved all of the scary decoration, but was partial to the stacks of light-up pumpkins. She was thrilled when it got dark and she was able to see it all lit up.

While we were down there, Uncle Ray took Maddyn for a ride on Coco, his horse.  We weren't sure if she was going to be scared or not, but she went right up to Coco and pet her and anxiously asked Uncle Ray if she could ride her.  She was on cloud 9 talking about it all weekend!!

Sunday we went trick-or-treating. Maddyn got quite the loot this year! The only  bad part was that we had to take away quite a bit of her candy b/c of the nut allergy. It really sucks, and she got disappointed- but we substituted her nut candy with skittles, nerds, sweettarts and other candies she could have. Honestly- half of that candy is going to be given away, so it's ok. We just don't plan to tell her that, lol. It was also bad news for me, since I ended up eating loads of her rejected candy, ha!  I'm just lucky that there are so many nut-free options, and that there are loads of websites that help plan accordingly!

I posted the Halloween, Pumpkin, Horse Riding and 3 months photos on Shutterfly! I'll try to get the Disney ones up this week! :)

The next few weeks will fly. Only 3 weeks until I go back to work. Maddyn has her first ever dentist appt tomorrow. We have lots of gtg's with friends this week and next.

We are having our family holiday photos taken by Gina from Gina Cristine Photography (She did our AWESOME Maternity photos) next week. Looking forward to it- though, I haven't lost that weight yet- so plan to see more photos of the kids than Dave and I (lol).  Should be fun- I just need to find some outfits for all of us!! Otherwise, Gina's gonna have to do a lot of photoshopping ;)

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween.