Happy Halloween!

I hope that everyone had a scarily wonderful and ghoulish Halloween! Our festivities started with a parade at school, followed by trick or treating around the neighborhood with Nate's friends Lydia and Margaret. Anna fell asleep at 6 and so missed most of the fun, but its not like she can eat candy or anything. Poor Big Grandpa had to stay back at the house to watch the baby and give out candy while we took Nate trick or treating, but he said he had fun. This year Nate filled up his Halloween bucket FULL of candy, not like last year when he would take a candy and then give one back. Hope that everyone had a good time!

Night meetings = lack of sleep

I love my job, don't get me wrong, but these late night meetings are rough on a new mom! Last night, I was at a Planning Commission meeting and didn't get home until almost 1 am. As I was on my way home, Marc rang to let me know that he and the baby were both waiting up for me. Apparently she woke up at 10:30 and was so excited to see her daddy that she didn't want to go back to bed. She was happy and cuddly... just not very sleepy. Within 5 minutes of my being home, she fell asleep in my arms. I could almost hear her say "ah, that's the way it should be." Marc last night said that that did it for him... no more babies for us. But me? Waking up to a smiling baby next to me in bed makes the exhaustion all worth it. I love our kids so much sometimes it hurts.

Happy birthday to Charlotte!

She is 33 years old today. About half way there to retirement, my old friend! I don't know whether that statement will make you feel very young (gheesh, another 30 years of working) or very old (yikes! you are halfway to retirement!) But regardless, I hope you have a wonderful, happy bday. Love you!

It is official.... Anna is chubby!

At her 4 month appointment, Anna hit the 65th percentile for height and the 95th percentile for weight! It is confirmed... she is a chubster! But the doctor said that she was still too young to let her cry it out and she probably gets genuinely hungry at night, so we should keep on doing what we are doing. I don't know if its because Nate trained me so well to have a lousy night sleep or that Anna may be my last baby (unless I can persuade Marc otherwise!) or that she usually sleeps next to me in bed, but I don't mind waking up. A part of me even enjoys those nighttime cuddles. BTW, thanks to everyone who responded to that post! I got some good advice.

Kids learn the darndest things at daycare.

Last night, Nate taught us a song to sing before we ate dinner that went something like this...

Please and thank you, please and thank you
(while rubbing your belly)
Magic words, magic words!
(hold your arms out and twiddle your fingers)
Everybody should say them, everybody should say them
(not sure what the movement is for this one)
Every day, every day
(a big thumbs up)

It is so cute! He also taught me a song that we sing when we take walks at night to look at the Halloween decorations that goes like this...

Witches and bats and
Big black cats
OOOOOOoooooo
OOOOOOoooooooo
Tiptoe tiptoe
BOO!

Is it time to be a mean mommy?

Anna is about to turn 4 months old and, as everyone can tell from the most recent pictures, is a hefty, chubby baby. The issue is that she is still getting up 3 times during the night to nurse. When should I cut her off and let her cry it out? I'm not ready for that yet, but now that I am back at work, her schedule is pretty exhausting. Marc experienced it last night and woke up this morning telling me that he now understands why on some mornings I am irritible! She usually goes to be between 6:30 and 7:00 pm. Then, she up for her first feeding around 11 or midnight. Then she's up again around 3 or 4 am. And again around 5 or 6 am, but this time she's usually woken up by a big stinkin' poopy. Then she'll fall back asleep until 7:30 or so. So, in other words, she usually gets about 13 hours of sleep during the night and wants to feed every 4 1/2 hours. On the plus side, she actually falls to sleep on her own!!! This is very exciting to me, as I rocked and sang Nate to sleep for over 2 years. Not going to make that same mistake again. For all those experienced parents out there, what would you do???? I would love to cut out the middle feeding, but perhaps she is genuinely hungry?

Nate the Frog Prince...

This is very cute, although I did screw up in one place. :)


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The Maryland Renaissance Festival...

the place where women can dress slutty, you can eat an entire turkey leg, and get cheesecake on a stick. The kids were great and had a fantastic time. It brought back memories of when, pre-marriage and famliy, I used to go with my college buddies. Nate especially enjoyed watching the knights jousting. Unfortunately we didn't get lots of good pics because Nate was scared of the people in costumes!

HIking on the Appalachian Trail

Charlotte was in town this week (yippee!) so I took Thursday off from work and we went hiking on the Appalachian Trail together. We hiked to an overlook and watched the clouds rolling by. And talked and talked and talked. It was so great to see her. I wish she wasn't so far away in Colorado. Sigh.

A budding photographer

Look at the picture Nate took while we were visiting Great G'ma this weekend. Not bad for a 3 year old! It is even in (sort of) focus. I don't mind at all that my head is cut off.

Anna's first stint in the exersaucer

Anna had fun this morning playing in her big brother's exersaucer. She seemed so little for it (after all, she's only three months old) but really enjoyed zooming around and around. It is amazing how quickly babies develop. Each month is so different from the last.

Two little pumpkinheads...

Sitting in a pumpkin patch! Today was our annual visit to Cox Farms. Funny to think that just last year, I was barely pregnant with Anna and now she is sitting on pumpkins. We all had such a great time on the slides, petting the baby animals, going on a hay ride. We've gone to the same place the past three year so this has definitely become a Milin family tradition. It was so much fun that both children have been napping for the past two and a half hours. When they wake up, we are going to decorate the house for Halloween! And carve pumpkins if we aren't too tired.

The conquering hero of daycare...

This morning when I dropped Nate off in his classroom, the girls were so excited to see him that they started to chant "Nate-y, Nate-y, Nate-y" in unison. It was the cutest thing ever!

What my kids are doing right now...

The nanny cam has to be the greatest invention. Right now, Anna is sitting in a bouncy chair wiggling her arms and legs. Nate is sitting at a table with 5 other children eating lunch. I can't quite tell what they are eating, but he is almost done. And I am slurping soup (got to love the colder weather!) at my desk spying on my kids. Its funny, the mix of emotions I feel while watching them go about their daily lives. When I am watching Anna, I get all sad that I'm at work while someone else is taking care of her. But then, when I switch to Nate, I feel wonderful that he is in such a fun, great place and has so many friends. But even that is a little bittersweet because he's getting so old. I can't believe my baby #1 is going to be 4 in just a couple of months!

I have the best kids in the world.

Marc has been gone all week on a business trip. At first, I was really concerned with how I was going to handle two kids (one being a itty bitty baby) on my own while working, but it has been surprisingly easy. I've been putting Anna down for a nap as soon as we get home from daycare, then she's happy the rest of night and goes to sleep around 7:30. While I am putting Anna to bed, then Nate plays on his downstairs or watches tv. Then she's asleep by the time I have to put Nate to bed. And the best part is that we actually have had about an hour each evening to spend together - and both kids have been happy! We've been painting, going out for walks, playing with toys. As PT says, good times. Of course, we'll be very happy to see Marc tomorrow when he comes home!

Men vs. Women

As I sit here at work (just finished eating lunch), on my second day back in the office since I was off all summer on maternity leave, I came across an interesting study in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/business/26leonhardt.html?_r=1&em&ex=1191297600&en=031f43e2931176fb&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin) which discussed several studies that found that men are happier than women. According to the article, the happiness gap has been creeping up on us since the 1960s, when women began working outside the home in large numbers. In the early 70s, women were happier; now men are. Researchers believe the gap comes from the fact that men now spend more time than ever parenting, cooking, exercising, fishing, watching sports and all-around relaxing, and less time working, while women work more than ever. Damn, you can't win. I've always wanted a great career, a job I truly enjoyed, and I've gotten my wish. But is having my wish come true making me unhappy?

I know this is my first week back at work, but this is how the last 24 hours of my life have gone.

YESTERDAY
5:00 pm - Left work
5:30 pm - Picked the kids up from daycare
5:45 to 6:00 - Played and snuggled with the kids
6:30 - Put Anna to bed
7:00 - Made & ate dinner
7:30 - Gave Nate a bath
8:00 - Watched 64 Zoo Lane with Nate
8:30 - Started Nate's bedtime routine; got him in bed by 8:45
9:00 - Watched House
9:45 - Went to bed

TODAY
2:00 - Up with Anna
4:00 - Changed Anna's diaper
7:00 - Woke up and got ready for work
7:45 - Woke Anna up and snuggled for about 5 minutes before Marc took the kids to daycare
8:15 - Got to work
and I have been working ever since except for when I am pumping.

So I have had no quality time with my babies, no time to spend with Marc, and had little down time for me. And these are supposed to be the happiest years of my life! Hmm. I used to think I was crazy for feeling this pervasive sense of unease and pressure and discontent. Now I just think I'm a woman. I would make a plan to change this, but who has the time? (Not just to make the plan, but also to implement it).

Another interesting thing in the article. Men apparently enjoy being with their parents, while women find time with their mom and dad to be slightly less pleasant than doing laundry. What do you think about that, Mom and Dad? (BTW, I totally disagree with that finding!)

Daycare update

Anna did really well in school today. The only problem is that she refused her second bottle of milk so didn't eat from 9:30 till 2:30, which is a REALLY long stretch for a little baby. They were about to call me when I showed up to pick her up and she *somewhat* took the bottle from me, tho she clearly would have preferred to breastfeed directly and wasn't happy at all with her situation. But she took 2 good naps which led me to a sort of epiphany. I've been putting Anna down to bed by lying beside her and feeding her until she fell asleep. (This was a natural extension of what we do at night, since I bring her into bed with me right after she wakes up for the first time.) But at school today, she fell asleep both times in her crib, on her own, while sucking her thumb. I hope to instill some good sleeping habits in her so perhaps she'll start sleeping more at night. Right now, she gets up predictably at 12:30, 3:30, and then 6:00. That's habit, not need, because that baby has lots of jelly rolls on her legs. So we moved the rocking chair up to her room and she's napping for the first time in her life in her own room, in her own crib. I still nursed her to sleep, but this is definite progress! She really loves watching the monkey light thingy that Uncle PT gave her.

Anna's first day at school

Anna started school this morning. When we left her, she was propped up on a boppy being the center of attention from all of her new teachers. I am sure that she will like school, but I cried and cried when I dropped her this morning. I go back to work on Thursday and a part of me is looking forward to it, but a bigger part of me is missing my baby. She is 14 1/2 weeks old so I've had a relatively long maternity leave (for which I am very grateful... I really do work at the best place!), but she is still sooooo little. Sigh.