St. Thomas, Talking, and Easter!

Ok so it's been almost a month again since my last post. I really need to get more consistent, I know. The problem is that you never have enough time. I don't know about you other moms out there, but by the time I get off work, pick up Charlotte, get home and make dinner, I probably only have about an hour to an hour and a half to actually play with my child. Then it's bath time, story time, and night night time. I am worn out by 8:30 p.m. every night! That leaves little time for cleaning (yea dream on), working out (my elliptical is collecting dust in the basement), or blogging (last thing I want to do!) I realize though that if I don't write down what is happening, it's going to be 5 years from now and I'll be quite mad at myself for not recording these memories while they are somewhat fresh in my slightly sleep-deprived mind.

So let me catch you up on what's been going on. Life without Bruiser is still very hard. Sam and I still talk about him all the time, and cry about him just as often. It doesn't take much - seeing a dog that looks like him, getting a card in the mail, or just thinking about how he loved this time of year brings a tear to my eye (well not really because I can't produce tears but my face gets all ugly and screwed up and I hurt inside). We are moving on, but still have big holes in our hearts.

In my despair, I decided a good therapy was to chop my hair off. I don't hate it over two month later, and luckily it's growing out quickly. I don't love it either though. It's just OK. I want my long hair back!


my before and after! long or short, which do you prefer?

CharCat
Charlotte is a joy at this age. Don't get me wrong - there are moments of pure insanity, where I wonder why no one tells you once the baby can walk and then the baby can run all hell breaks loose! I often spend my evenings chasing her down the street, trying to explain to a 20-month old why she can't wander down people's driveways, or why she can't eat a stick. Clearly she wants to have fun, and sometimes mom is the antithesis of fun! She is so smart and clever, she literally repeats every word you say. "Sub, peas, corn, sky, duck, horse, neigh, book..."

So here's what I need to update you on....

Girl's Trip 2015

In late February, my mom, sister, Charlotte and I traveled to the beautiful island of St. Thomas. We had an awesome time, as we always do when it's girls only! This was Charlotte's second girls trip and she truly enjoyed the island, the fresh air, and just being outdoors. She had to get a breathing treatment right before we left, and the doctor said the humidity would do her good, and boy, did it! We stayed at the Ritz Carlton and after a few wrong turns with S-cookie driving on the left hand side (side note: St. Thomas does not believe in street signs or any sort of signage on the island), we finally arrived after a long travel day! (side note #2: direct flights are in my future).

The grounds were beautiful, with a protected marsh in the center featuring iguanas, birds, and lizards. We had mostly great meals, and two not so great meals. The most fun, however, was just being together and being silly - our usual M.O.



Easter 2015

For Easter this year we headed to Washington, DC to spend the weekend at my sister's place. We went to the National Zoo and got to see Bao Bao, had a lovely dinner out with everyone including my sister's boyfriend, Klaus, my best friend, Mal, and of course, my peanut pants. She was the talk of the dinner table, and she ate a few bites of her pizza and ice cream for dinner.





Easter Sunday we went to mass and Charlotte was a very good girl. I only had to get up and leave once for a few minutes during the service. The choir sounded great and the setting was beautiful. It was so nice to be together with the whole family for Easter mass and brunch. Charlotte looked absolutely adorable and got lots of compliments on her dress, courtesy of Grandbirdy!





Charlotte loved exploring around S-cookie's condo, and seeing her MalGal again. It was a wonderful visit and we were all sad to head back.

Spring time
Now that it's spring and the weather is cooperating, we are getting outside more and more. Charlotte loves looking for "airbos" and for "tweet tweets." I would estimate that she can say over 50 words at this point - she is one smart cookie!

I was in New York for work recently, and had to spend three nights away from my girl. It was the longest I've ever been away from her and even though we Skyped each night, I missed my little girl so much. Luckily she was in good hands with daddy.

We got to see Birdy, Haugs, Josh, and the dogs this past weekend when I took her home for a visit. We saw horses, ponies, hens and cats! Haugs even babysat so I could go to a bridal shower Friday night and he had a great time with peanut. We went to Birdy's open house on Sunday, and Charlotte loved running around the huge house!


at Birdy's open house on Sunday

Because I'm Happy
Even when I am sad, Charlotte makes me laugh. She is my light, my joy. Everything pales in comparison to the happiness I feel when I put Charlotte to bed, she looks up at me, waves, and says "night night mama." This is what she did tonight. I just melt. These are the moments that I live for. And these are the moments I hope I remember for the rest of my life.



Until next time...

9 months and growing....too fast!

My beautiful, friendly, darling girl turned 9 months old last week, and I can't believe how fast it's going! When you're pregnant, all you can think about is the birth, and what to expect during labor and delivery. When the baby is born all you can think is that you've never loved anyone so much in the entire world and your life takes on a whole new meaning. Now that Charlotte is older, I just want time to slow down. I saw families celebrating high school graduation over the weekend and thought to myself, "Holy crap. That's going to be Charlotte before I can blink my eye!"

Having a child is an excellent reminder to slow down and appreciate life. We only get one shot in this fast-paced, technology-driven, crazy world. Seeing it through the eyes of a 9 month old is truly a blessing. Charlotte loves people. Everyday I call school to check on her the founder says to me, "Charlotte is just THE FRIENDLIEST BABY EVER!" And I agree. She is very curious about people. I've been trying to put my cell phone down more and talk to people in elevators, on the street, etc. Charlotte loves animals. When we took her to the zoo for our 6 year anniversary it was wonderful to see her react to the new animals she saw. She especially loved the giraffe, and the turtle.

mommy and Charlotte after feeding giant Sophie

admiring the turtle with dada

I love snuggling with my little girl more than anything. I try to hold her close, smell her skin, take in the moment, and appreciate all that she has brought into my life.

Have I mentioned I love being a mommy?! :)

Next up on our adventure: Oak Island, North Carolina for 7 nights and our first Father's Day for dada!

Weekend at Home in Greensburg, PA

As if you didn't know, being a mommy is a full-time job. It requires love, patience, kindness, planning, energy, fun, and empathy. Charlotte has taught me so much already - it's crazy. You can read all the books about parenting you want, but until you actually have the baby and your instincts take over, you don't know how you're really going to be as a parent. Charlotte turned 24 weeks yesterday (2/10/14) and we spent our first weekend at Grandma Birdy's house! Charlotte got an A++ in the car both ways - she slept the entire way there and only cried for ten seconds on the return trip and then fell back asleep. It definitely helped that I gave daycare a heads up about her trip so they gave her last bottle to her a little earlier, so she was extra sleepy when I got to her on Friday. Friday night we laid low and I put her to bed early. She slept pretty well that night, only waking up twice, which was pretty good for sleeping in a pack 'n play. Saturday was my sister's surprise birthday party and all of the ladies loved holding and gushing over Miss Charlotte Faye. It was nice to see how social she is and how good she is with people who she met a long time ago, or is meeting for the first time.

Charlotte's thinking, "take me out of this seat, I want to party!"

Charlotte and grandma Birdy

Ali and Charlotte

Charlotte loved being the center of attention and having all the ladies swoon over her! The fondue, fruit, cookies and wine were fabulous, but the company was even nicer!

Later on Saturday we went to out for our family dinner at Rizzo's and snapped a few photos of peanut and Auntie S.

On Sunday we were supposed to go to Pittsburgh to see Wicked, but a freak snowstorm ruined those plans. Boo!

In all, it was a fabulous weekend at home with friends and family. It was so nice to see everyone and just relax. On Monday we returned home and Sam and Bruiser were very excited to see us. We had a nice time reuniting and smiling and laughing together as a family.

Back to Work - Making the Transition

Charlotte turned 12 weeks and that meant three dreaded words: back to work! So last week I headed back to work full-time at my job as a manager at a global content wire service. I had been dreading this day since I had Charlotte, but knew it was necessary to go back. I asked my mommy friends for some advice on how to handle the transition and most of them said the same thing: stay busy.

That was easy to do with 12,817 emails to read on my first day back. I cried twice driving into work that first day, but knew she was in good hands. My mom had come up for the week to watch Charlotte. She doesn't head to daycare until December. This eased my worried mind quite a bit, knowing she was with grandma.

My advice to mom's out there who have to head back to work: ease into things. Talk to your boss and see if part-time is an option. If not, schedule a meeting with your boss on the first or second day back and talk about what you absolutely have to get done in the next week or two. I am lucky in that my boss is a great family guy who is very understanding - so this helps a lot to be able to talk to him about any and everything.

Be flexible: even if you have a schedule set in stone now, know that it will have to change a bit when you head back to work. Charlotte definitely knew something was up the morning I went back to work, she was fussier than usual. Stay patient and realize it's a big change for your baby too. Have dad help out as much as possible. Don't be afraid to tell your spouse that you need more help. I told Sam I'd need his help with 2 AM feedings and helping her get ready for bedtime more now that I'm back to work and he's stepped up quite a bit.

As for the lack of sleep while going back to work, I don't have much advice on that. I'm glad if I get 4-5 uninterrupted hours of sleep - and that's usually only 2-3 days a week. This past Sunday my mom and I decided to decorate the house for Christmas - get a jump start on it early since she was around to help. I put Charlotte down for a nap, and decided to plug the baby monitor in downstairs so we could hear her while we were decorating. As I plugged the baby monitor in and went about getting the decorations organized, I looked around and realized I had carried down the fan from my bedroom and plugged that in, NOT the baby monitor. This lack of sleep business can really do a number on you.

Talking helps. Speaking to my hairdresser (another new mommy to a 5 month old), my sister-in-law (mother of a soon-to-be 3 year old and a 6 month old), and a friend at work (mom of a soon-to-be 2 year old) you come across different tips and tricks. And even if they don't work for you, just having someone to empathize with and know what you're going through really helps.

For now I have to work full-time to support my family and while I enjoy my job I surely miss peanut while I'm at work. But it makes the time we spend together that much more precious to me. Oh, and I've also resorted to playing the lottery - I've got my fingers crossed!