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 ;)

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