The Mom I Want To Be

Despite the challenges of being a new mom, there's definitely a lot to look forward to! Though we know Baby won't be walking or talking for a while, in the early morning on September 27, I dreamed he said his first word! Hubby was out of the room, but in the dream I heard my son say in a tiny adorably high voice, "Ba...by!" I was thrilled and urged him to do it again so my husband could hear. In an all-knowing voice he then whispered faster, "Ba-by." I don't really expect Baby's first word to be "Baby" or even "Mommy," since these sounds are harder than "Mama," "Dada" (probably the easiest), and "ball," (my brother's first word). But it's nice to think about the exciting milestones of the future. Baby had an exciting milestone of his own the night before, on September 26 when he met his baby cousins at a family party! Though usually quite social, it was getting a little late in a loud a...

Dreaming of home-cooked eggs, potatoes, French toast, meat, and maybe strawberries on the side.... So, having lived/survived? through both the newborn phase and the 3-month back-to-work phase, I would argue that, for me at least, this current older baby period is actually more challenging. I mean, yes, before I was recovering from surgery and didn't know what I was doing--but at least I was home with my husband, free from work, and could settle myself in on the couch for a week straight to just feed Baby and watch Netflix. Seriously, we binged Stranger Things , Jessica Jones , AND a whole lot of Friends . Sure, Baby wasn't sleeping through the night, but he got into a pattern of splitting his sleep into one 4-hour block and (usually) one 2-hour block, which was just enough for me. People brought you frozen casseroles because they knew you'd have no time to cook. Now, I have to squeeze in all things Baby plus all things work. Literally every waking moment is schedul...

So I previously posted about our Snoo bassinet --an expensive luxury that we went in on together in the hopes of getting more sleep. We had some money saved, and I decided to give it a try after a rough night that made Hubby strongly advocate for one. I also said I would post more if it ended up working. You probably haven't seen a post from me about the Snoo in a while. Is that because it's not working, or have I just been too overwhelmed with transitioning back to work to fully review and appreciate the wonderful product that it is? Well...a little of both. So I thought I'd share my pros and cons if that helps others in making their own decisions on whether the expense is worth it. First, let's get the cons out of the way. I'm the kind of person who would rather hear bad news first to get it out there and over with and then end on a positive note with the potential good news. So here goes: Cons: 1. What's the difference? Baby has gone from ...

My maternity leave ended. It was surreal--we had so much time together that seemed to pass almost instantly. The last Sunday was not a day I looked forward to. So, to take my mind off our final week together, and because my birthday was coming up, I asked Hubby if we could do professional family portraits. The photo shoot went perfectly. Our  awesome photographer  came to our house with supplies at the ready--baby clothes, bear hats, bow ties, backdrops, boxes, basins. She turned our bedroom and our nursery into a studio. She even cuddled and fed our baby when he started to get fussy and tired toward the end (it had been three whole hours). We were lucky we got as many smiles as we did. And boy did we get smiles! Even her assistant captured Baby's beautiful grin in our behind-the-scenes shots. The Saturday before maternity leave ended we had family time out getting burgers and ice cream--and feeling sad that our time alone together was ending. Sunday was a busy...