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.

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]