3 Month Check In!

Just like that Vienna is 3 months old... and I'm back to work.

It's weird because the time has flown by, but it also feels like she's been a part of our lives forever.  I was home with her for 13.5 weeks!  My company gave me 10 weeks of paid maternity leave, which is almost unheard of, and then I was able to utilize PTO, the holidays, and a few unpaid days for the rest.  It was amazing being home with her for that long and I cannot fathom having to leave her after just 6 weeks like so many women are forced to do.  My work is also allowing me to return for 30 hours at first, so that is helping everyone transition (including Mela haha).

We are using a woman who does daycare out of her house and is only watching one other little girl who is 3 weeks older than Vienna.  Our friends from the gym used her for 3 years and on top of that my coworker is good friends with her son.  She's been watching kids for longer than Dave and I have been alive!  I'm hoping we'll avoid some of the extra daycare colds and Miss Connie will be the Italian grandmother Vienna would never have.  I'm not exactly happy to be back at work, but I think having a set schedule will be good for both of us and mama's gotta make that money.  Pumping is pretty inconvenient, but I'm going to try and make it work as long as possible.

Vienna is changing so much all the time.  Just this past week or two she started making a lot of different noises and crying differently for different things.  Her cries are actually pretty cute, she makes little squeaky gasping noises and often snorts.  She only gets super mad once in a while, although we do call her the pee pee princess because she doesn't tolerate a wet diaper at all.

 

She's still going to bed pretty late, usually between 10 and midnight, but she went to bed at 9 pm the first day she came home from daycare, so I'm hopeful.  She sleeps for long chunks and usually only gets up once per night, but on both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve she slept 8 hours in row as a special gift for Mommy!

She recently realized she could jam both of her hands in her mouth, so that's been a fun new extra drooly activity.  We're hoping it's not a sign of early teething.  She loves her play mat, she kicks wildly at the piano and gets a tough grip on the toys and refuses to let go.  Tummy time isn't a favorite, but we know it's a necessary evil and her neck is getting pretty strong.

As far as my recover goes, I feel mostly like myself aside from my boobs being extra huge and filled with milk.  I've lost over 40 lbs (of the 60 I gained) without really trying and I've enjoyed as many cookies as my little heart desired.  Before giving birth, I decided that I wasn't going to try and diet through the holidays and now that I've gone back to work, I'm concerned about impacting my supply as I adjust to pumping.  I also haven't made it back to the gym yet.  I've wanted to go, but baby snuggles always win out.  I just signed up for a limited membership for the next 3 months so now I just need to get my booty there.  I'm really looking forward to lifting heavy weights and doing something just for me.

Blogging has also been a challenge.  Whenever I have any free time I'd rather be trying to make V laugh, enjoying her little body sleeping on my chest... or fitting in a shower, doing laundry, or sometimes just watching Grey's Anatomy.  And the longer I don't post, the more epic the return post seems like it needs to be.  I would like to get back into some kind of groove and just post shorter snippets more often, but I really can't promise anything.  Spending time with this little bug will always be more important.