Florida

Mike and Margaret invited Jolynn and I on a trip to Florida this past week. It was Jolynn's first time on a plane. She did very well. Everyone's advice was great. She ate at the terminal when we first arrived. Then ate again about an hour into the flight. The take off wasn't too bad, she had her pacifier and my ears weren't popping much. When it was time for her to eat again is when the air pressure was a bit more intense. So the timing was great. Then she slept for a little while, then visited Mike in first class.

Before getting to the resort we stopped at Denny's. The room at the resort was awesome! Jolynn and I had our own room with a king size bed, bathroom, and mini kitchen. She had a metal bar crib that creaked and was very low for me to lower her into. She ended up sleeping with me. In a king size bed she could have been in a completely different bed for all I could tell. Mike and Margaret were in the main room that had a large kitchen, dining room, living room, balcony, king size bed, jacuzzi, (two person) shower, and his and her sinks; my mom had a room within this room with two single beds and her own bathroom too. The room also had a washer and dryer. This came in handy for all the changing of outfits daily.

There was an Outlet Mall within walking distance of the resort. We ended up going there 2 of the days. We also went to a Thrift Store on another day. Margaret went off on her own when the rest of us decided to go swimming. She ended up at a Goodwill that was like a main corporate building or something. It was HUGE. Between all the different stores we went to, I really didn't need to bring any clothes for myself or Jolynn. A bathing suit and pjs for me would have been fine. Everything else was provided by my mom and Margaret.

Monday afternoon Mike, my mom and I went to a lobster all-you-can-eat. I had 5 lobsters, 3 mussels (for the first time), and 2 oysters Rockefeller (first time also). This was a lot of fun and our waitress was great. Jolynn stayed back at the room with Margaret.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning I used the workout facilities. They were as nice as my old gym membership equipment. Tuesday - the grandmas joined me. Wednesday - my ankle and knee were bothering me, so I did laps in the pool instead. The water was like bath water it was so warm. Not a soul in the pool either. When I was done, I soaked for a while in the hot tub. It was great.

My mom and I had one last adventure together - we both got tattoos of our hubbies names! Okay, so they were temporary, but it was still fun :)

The flight home was less eventful. Jolynn was fussy when we got seated, then Mike got her to sleep. She slept from take off to touch down. We even passed her around and she still didn't wake up. Margaret's ticket was upgraded, so this time my mom was in first class. She needed it. A little relaxation and pampering before heading back to the frozen tundra.

When we arrived at the terminal, Jon was there waiting for us. Jolynn was so happy to see her daddy!

New Beginnings

New Beginnings is a blog I had going for my new life with Jon. Simply Me was just that - Simply Me. I blogged about my pregnancy on it because I thought it was mostly about me. Now that Jolynn is here I figured it is now all about family, so the blogging has continued on New Beginnings. Feel free to follow along there on my adventures as a new mom.

And thanks for following on Simply Me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bumbo

Back to work

My day started at 2am roughly. Jolynn was half crying, half talking. After getting up every 5-10 min, I decided to just get up. That was about 3am. I fed her, then got today's milk thawed and divided, then pumped. Since she got up earlier than her usual 4am, I was able to catch up on Facebook and blogs. It is now 4:30am. Time to take a shower and get myself ready for work.

I was dressed and ready by 5am. Jolynn started to cry again. Changed her diaper, rocked a little and back to sleep she went. Only to wake up again at 5:30am. I really hope she can get a handle on the gas issue soon. If it is what I am eating, we are in trouble for today (which she hasn't started eating yet) - chili, dips with carrots, green peppers and cucumber, Reese's PB cups, and pickle ham roll-ups. I don't dare go back to sleep because she will just wake up again as soon as I start to get comfortable. Then I feel like I had less sleep than if I were to just stay awake relaxing watching the news.

Jon was nice enough to take her 7am feeding so I could pump one last time. Only thing left to do is pack up her food for today. I really hope I make it through the whole day without crashing.

I dropped off Jolynn at 7:30am. Went over how I had the bottles measured out. Mary pretty much said she had everything covered and shooed me out the door. She said I was welcome to call if I felt like it. As much as I wanted to know how she was doing I didn't want to hear that she had crying fits or wasn't adjusting well. So I didn't call.

Work went well. Lots of people welcoming me back and saying I was missed. A few schools called and didn't even say anything about the fact that I hadn't answered my phone or returned emails in 3 months. Just went on with their questions as if I had never been gone. I dove right in with a project from Matt for composites. It was nice to be kept busy so I didn't think about Jolynn as much. I pumped twice at work, which was a little awkward walking out of the server room with my containers of breast milk. I brought two pictures of Jolynn with me. Everyone expected me to have my cube covered in them.

Jon got off early so he picked up Jolynn. Mary said she was really good and got a lot of attention from the other kids because she was so little. All the kids were in awe of "the little baby". Jon said she was very stimulated today-slept once and then took a 45 min nap close to the end of the day before being picked up. Hopefully she will sleep for a long time tonight.

I would just like to mention how much Jon has taken on for my first day at work.
1. He picked up Jolynn (so I could then go to the grocery store and take care of my Gym membership -that's another story)
2. He was feeding her when I got home.
3. He picked up the living room and stairs and vacuumed both.
4. He just took Jolynn downstairs to her swing.

Time for Momma to relax and recharge for another day.

Popcorn

Jolynn was upset when she was in her swing so we went upstairs. For some reason I smelled buttered popcorn. When Jon got home he was holding Jolynn and asked why she smelled like popcorn. I looked back at what I ate that day - no popcorn was consumed. Jon started feeding her and she stopped taking it in, so we went to change her (this wakes her up or reminds her that she is still hungry). When I unzipped her nightgown I found poop all the way up to her belly button. Guess who got a bath.

Aldi vs. Cub

I went to Cub a while back because I needed some items that Aldi would not have. Instead of going to Target and Aldi I decided to one-stop-shop and just go to Cub. BAD IDEA! My bill ended up being $101.23; granted there were many items that I would not have been able to get from Aldi. I was still surprised by the things I was able to get from both places and were much more expensive. Of that $101 bill, the quantity of items was only 33. I went to Aldi the other day and purchased some of the same items plus other things = quantity of items at 42. The bill was only $67. NEED I SAY MORE?!

My Morning

My typical day now that I am a mommy.
Anywhere between 3am and 5am there is a feeding. This is the last feeding before I would need to be out the door for work. I have started a regime.
1. Boil water in electric kettle to thaw days worth of milk.
2. feed Jolynn
3. pump
4. measure out individual containers for each feeding
5. bag up pumped milk from day before for freezing
6. wash all the bottles
7. eat breakfast
8. take a shower
9. get myself ready
10. get diaper bag packed
11. get Jolynn ready (depending on how long everything else took-may be time for a feeding again)

Mornings aren't too bad because she is still sleepy that I can get stuff done. During the day she is awake longer. Feeding and then staying awake for 1-2 hours, then sleeping for only 1-2 hours before wanting to be fed again. I'm hoping that she starts to drink more and less often soon.