The Mississippi Martins: And speaking of change....

We have gone through lots of changes to our daily routine over the past month. I started back to work on July 7 (after a battle with the stomach bug and mastitis...yuck!) All I can say is THANK HEAVEN FOR GRANDMA! My mom was there for both moral and babysitting support the week I went back to work. While she did not sign up for all the other events that occurred that week, she handled them with a smile on her face, a burp cloth on her shoulder and a trash can in hand. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around, and it wasn't long before Chris caught the stomach bug, too. Once our house was healed, I started week two of being back at work. Since we didn't have a spot in daycare until August, Emma Claire alternated weeks staying with her Grandma and Jen Jen in July. They would never admit to how much spoiling went on while they kept her, but I have a good feeling we far exceeded the point of "spoiled rotten". But, that's what grandparents are for, right?

My transition back to work has been nothing short of exhausting! I feel like I have two full-time jobs and I don't get to sit down at home until I get into bed each night. Welcome to the world of motherhood! I admit I was very weary about returning to work after being at home with EC for 12 weeks. However, I am very proud of how well I have done. I am definitely staying busy enough during the day at work to keep me from getting too sad that I am not at home with her. And we were fortunate that we were able to ease into the world of daycare. Having the grandmas keep EC for the first 4 weeks definitely helped!

EC came to visit me at work!

Speaking of daycare, Emma Claire started "school" last Monday, August 1. She is going to Early Encounters at Parkway Heights, which is literally a hop, skip and a jump away from my office, which means I can go see her if I need a sugar fix :) The first week, I was able to go feed her every day at lunch. But now that we are migrating toward the 4 hour feeding schedule, we aren't on the same lunch schedule anymore. But that doesn't mean I can't go visit at lunch!

Pre-daycare with Daddy, ready for a fun day at school.

Post-daycare with Mommy after a long day.

And speaking of the 4 hour feeding schedule....it is like manna from HEAVEN, do you hear me? After 17 weeks of living my life in three hour cycles (ok, let's face it, those first 3 weeks were more like 2 hour cycles), having an extra hour makes a HUGE difference. Its like the difference in a queen and king size bed; PURE LUXURY! We owe it all to the wonder manufacturers of rice cereal-the ultimate appetite satisfier.

And speaking of rice cereal....EC had her first bite of food this weekend! We sat her in her bumbo on the table and prepared her first helping of rice cereal in her Tinkerbell bowl with her pink spoon. And, boy was she confused when she took that first bite! I can't imagine it tastes all that great, but I am sure she will get used to making a sticky mess every night at the dinner table. We have lots of messy meals to look forward to!

"You want me to put that spoon WHERE?"

"Ok, I'll give it a try."

"Oh, I like that!"

And speaking of messy meals....what, did you think I was going to say I needed to go fix supper? If you know me well, then you know I'm not the one in the kitchen at our house. What I was getting at is that its time for CHRIS to fix supper :)

Here are a few more fun pictures from the past few weeks :)