Juuust Right

My first week back at work. It was challenging, but very good. At some point during my pregnancy I remember my mother telling me a story about biking from her office in Dupont Circle (I think) to my day care in Mount Pleasant to nurse me at lunch. I remember sort of chuckling to myself and thinking what an incredibly dedicated (if not crazy) mom I had. Well, as I biked home to nurse Molly at lunch this week I chuckled some more as I realized I was doing the very same thing. Who would have imagined? I guess we're all more like our parents than we think. :)

The hardest part was not leaving Molly with the neighbor. I love our neighbor. She is amazing with Molly. So amazing that it makes it (almost) easy to leave Molly with her. I know she's in good hands. It was actually harder to concentrate and have adult conversations. It's been a while. Oh, and the pumping thing was weird. Everyone is very nice about it, but you can't get around the awkwardness when it's a small (8 person) office. We're all working in one big room together and every couple of hours I get up and go behind a low wall and start pumping away. I just don't feel very, well, discreet. But, like I said, everyone is very nice.

We also had our 4 month check-up this week. A little early, yes, but that's okay. Everything was just fine. Molly is a very healthy bouncing little girl. She's pretty gosh durn average, too. I always forget to ask the doc about the whole percentile thing (ie. what percentile is she for her weight, length, head circumference, shoe size, head control, finger dexerity, and artistic aptitude) so I looked it up on the rather imprecise charts at the back of the baby book. At 14lbs 12oz and about 24 1/2 inches she's, well, average. Not a supersized baby, not a tiny baby. Juuuust right. Way to go Molly!

The doctor said the sleeping stuff is pretty on target, too, even if I don't appreciate the lack of sleep (have I mentioned that she's only been doing 4 hours in a row recently?). Oh well. As I keep telling myself, this too shall pass.

In other news our friends in LA had their little pooper. Welcome to the world little Tommy!

busy butterball

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's day Zach!
We met up with some friends at the Thai Buddhist Temple brunch this morning & Molly got to enjoy her Dodgers hat for the first time. It's still a little big, but it'll be just right in almost no time at all.
The biggest news (beyond enjoying our first father's day) is that I'm going "back" to work tomorrow. ! ... !
I say "back" because I'm not going back to the place where I used to work, rather, I'm starting *another* brand new job (yes, that's my second new job in a year, not counting my new job as a mom). It's basically the same job but a) closer, b) a smaller firm, and c) closer. Oh, and did I mention that the job is closer to home?
The job is literally SIX blocks from home. You really can't beat that. I figure even if I hate the job it's worth it for the proximity to Molly.
And so, you may ask, what will little Molly do while I'm at work? Well, for the next three weeks she'll be straight chillin' with our neighbor, the wonder woman! And after that ... Zach's gonna be home *full time*! Yay!

mastitis and more

So we went to idaho for a long weekend to see my aunt-in-law get married (yay! beautiful wonderful wedding!). We brought the camera, but oops! forgot the memory. So, unfortunately I don't have any new pictures to post. Here's one from last week when we all went to the beach...

The trip was good - Molly was wonderful. She fussed a bit on the last plane ride, but it was just her usual tired stuff made more difficult because the seatbelt light was on and we were not, as they say, free to move about the cabin. Once the light was off and we were up she was out. But somehow along the way on Sunday evening I developed a clogged milk duct which then turned into an infection (mastitis). This ends up feeling like the flu (plus one *really* sore boob). The fever has gone down and I've started the antibiotics and in general I'm feeling much much better. Ug!

I Heart NYC (& my hands!)

Loads of fun were had with the uncle from NYC (and the I heart NYC onsie courtesy of Ms. Ward in NYC). I think Miss Molly looks a bit like an 80's rock star, no?

If you can identify the developmental milestone shown in that last photo (hint: the one where she's bringing both her hands together) you get a gold star!

Sleep

Sleep - it's the thing foremost on most parent's minds. Everyone asks about it, everyone worries about it. Even our neighbor talks about it. Her 4 1/2 month old slept from 8pm-8am the other day. Straight through. In a row. I wouldn't believe her except that I've seen the kid and I've seen him sleep. He's a big kid and he does things in a big, mellow way. But even our neighbor talks about sleep.

The big question seems to be "Is she sleeping through the night?" This is a difficult question for me. She sleeps at night. She sleeps most of the night. But through the night? It depends. It depends firstly on how you define "through" and secondly on what night you're talking about.

According to my current sleep book ("The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantly) sleeping "through the night" really means sleeping 5 hours in a row. Pop quiz: how many of you consider this a night of sleep? Right. Neither do I. But according to a local postpartum depression specialist, 5 is the magic number of hours for a mom to sleep in order to keep her sanity. I'll bet every mom reading this can agree that life got much better when their baby/babies slept 5 hours in a row.

So, how's Molly doing with the sleep thing? Well, as I mentioned before, she sleeps pretty consistently at night. That is, she is very difficult to get to sleep, but once she's asleep she usually has only very brief wakings after that. Wet diapers don't seem to bother her, so typically she just wakes for a brief nursing, then goes right back to sleep. The side-lying nursing thing makes this very easy - we half wake, nurse, then go back to sleep. And on some blessed nights she stays asleep for about 4-5 hours in the middle of the night. But other nights she wakes every 2 hours for a nursing. And nights like last night she gets gassy and is in a state somewhere between asleep and awake for hours, eyes firmly shut, but tossing, turning, and moaning and generally keeping me awake. These are the nights/mornings that I put her in the crib, put in my ear plugs, and turn on the white noise thingy (it's really just the little device that came with the Pack'N'Play, but the portability means that I can put it by me to drown out her noises or by her to drown out the rest of the house noises).

And, as I've heard from many moms, and as the sleep book reaffirms, her nights reflect her days: on the days that we get solid 2-hour naps the evenings are always better. Here's to trying to make those naps happen! (and here's to trying to get some sleep). Now I'm off to tend the little sleeper ... g'night.

Molly's blanket

In case you haven't heard, Molly has just about the cooooolest blanket ever. This is a blanket with her name knit INTO it (not on it) by her lovely Nana. Molly is suitably impressed.