The Sickness and Other Fun Tales

I certainly didn't want to waste a single day of my very last week of maternity leave..... and then I woke up at 3am on Wednesday with the most amazing stomach virus. It was so fun.

Cory's mom came over and watched the baby while I did a lot of sleeping and not moving. My fever finally broke around midnight and I couldn't be more grateful for a new day to roll around. I was MUCH better on Thursday. It was hard to not really be able hold my sweet little girl, not only because I was sick, but because I was incredibly tired and my arms felt like jello. I can only hope and pray Colette doesn't get it. I'm not sure I'm prepared to make hospital visits.

We met with the potential nanny on Friday and I'm happy to report we're going to hire her! She's young, but Cory and I both agree that she'd be a good fit for us. We'll be asking her to start next Monday.

So, I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be to go back to work! I've already been getting emails for things to catch me up on all I've missed. I do quite enjoy my job, but it's going to be a lot to take in when I first get back.

And now, Cory is working on getting the baby to sleep.... and I should do the same (for myself.... the baby probably doesn't need both of us to put her to sleep...) I have a million errands to run tomorrow. Babies R Us, Sams Club, JoAnn's, Walmart, Publix..... I already feel like I need a nap.

The Final Countdown

It is officially my last week of maternity leave. (WAAAAHHHHHH!)

Still haven't nailed down a caregiver just yet. Fortunately we don't have to rush that.

We've got big news in the Taylor household. Someone is learning to use her hands! On Friday I was watching her kick on her kick-n-play piano mat... then she sorta stopped and picked her little fist up... stared at it... and then hit it against the hanging frog. It was adorable. You could just see all the little synapses firing in her little bitty head. And now just a few days later, she's starting to grasp things and pull them towards her mouth. Happening all too fast. Makes me sad for all the little things like this that I'll miss during the day. We'll just have to tell whoever is watching her that if she does something new, not to tell us... that way we can pretend it's the first time when we see it later.

On another note, I picked up a side job last week (Thanks Abbey!) doing some photoshop work. Finally putting that ole graphic design degree to some use. AND Cory is finally being hired as a contractor at his job. He had previously been an intern.

OH! And we had Colette's 2 month Well check on Tuesday. She's 12lbs 4oz. She had 5 out of 6 vaccinations (1 oral, 4 shots..). They were out of the dTap at the moment, so we'll be going back to get that one later. She squalled for about 2-3 minutes and then she was fine. Slept a little more the rest of the very snowy day.

It was certainly an exciting week.

This week I plan to relish all my day time with that sweet sweet baby of mine. Next week is going to be rooooough.

[caption id="attachment_759" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Play Time![/caption]

2 Months Already?!

Someone is TWO months old today!

[caption id="attachment_750" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Cheeeeeks![/caption]

She's definitely filling out! And her hair just keeps on sprouting out. I can't wait to put giant bows in it. I got a couple of new backgrounds in the mail this week. I'm pretty excited for a couple of themed photo sessions with this sweet little baby.

We also got our photos from our family session with Ashley Hodges Photography. Here are a couple from that! I love them all. She really had some of the funniest little faces.

[caption id="attachment_751" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Sweet girl[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_752" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Daddy loves that baby[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_753" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Aww[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_754" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Cat Nap[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_755" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Love her little faces![/caption]

Planning for the Future

I think both Colette and I have a little bit of a cold. She's still a happy baby, so I'm not terribly worried. Just a few sneezes and coughs once in a while. Still watching her like a hawk, just in case.

She'll be 2 months old on Saturday. I can't quite believe that. We go in for her 2 month well check next Tuesday. I'm excited to see how much she's grown. Well. I mean I can physically see it, but I'm interested in the numbers too!

Of course, her 2 month well check also means that the day I return to work is coming fast and hard. I go back in 19 days. Seems like a big number, but I know these days are going to fly by in the same fashion that the last two months have. At some point I'll be able to stay home with her. Cory and I gathered all our finances on Monday and I made a huge spreadsheet to help me figure out how to get all my debt paid off, live comfortably, and still save. I found that I can have everything paid off (damn you student loans! *shakes fist*), with my current salary, by Colette's 2nd birthday. 22 months from now. I'm totally okay with that. That still gives me plenty of time to shape her little mind before she's off to school.

I'm thinking about starting the Dave Ramsey method of putting cash in envelopes. But I'm terrible with cash so maybe not! We'll see!

I'm definitely blessed to have a husband who supports me in my decision to want to be a stay at home mom. When I met Cory I was still in the mindset that I didn't ever want kids and now I can't imagine that life. Don't get me wrong, I know it's not an easy job, and it's not something I want to do because it gets me out of a 40 hour a week desk job. I actually quite like my current job. It's a breeze with a decent salary, benefits, and occasional travel (not to mention the people I work for are pretty great); and being a stay at home mom will be pay-less 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That said, I feel like the rewards that come along with staying home far outweigh any benefit or travel opportunity I could possibly get from my company -- the chance to be the one who raises our kids.

For now though, I'll be thankful to have a job with healthcare benefits. We're currently looking for a nanny who can come to the house 3-4 days a week to watch the little babe, and her Grama will be watching her the other days. Finding a nanny is serious business. And expensive. Whew. How do you find someone you can trust to leave your baby with?! I can't even imagine trying to find a daycare.

Well... enough with that! I took some Valentine's photos last week. Pretty excited to share those in a couple weeks. AND our friend Ashley with Ashley Hodges Photography took some family photos for us this weekend like I mentioned in my last post. We've had a couple of sneak peeks and I'm very excited to see the rest. It was freezing cold so we had a little bit of an unhappy baby in the beginning, but she brightened up a bit in the end! She wasn't the happy, smiley baby she normal is, (who could be in that cold weather!?) but she definitely put out some sass. I can't imagine how we got a cold....

 

[caption id="attachment_747" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Sweet Sleepin' Baby[/caption]