Fall Bucket List

Tomorrow is October, you guys, OCTOBER! This year has flown by so quickly! October is one of my favorite times of year because it finally feels like Fall. The leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and Pumpkin Spice is everywhere! I love pumpkin everything. I was at Costco this week and found Pumpkin Spice waffles.  I didn't need 48 of them, so I will keep an eye out for this seasonal flavor at the grocery store. Honestly, I would have eaten all 48 in one weekend.  Is it too much to have a pumpkin spice waffle with a pumpkin spice latte for breakfast while burning a spiced pumpkin candle?  Yes?  Ok, I'll wait to light the candle until after breakfast.

I am so excited to start some Fall traditions with Henry this year. He is at a really fun age where he is just absorbing everything.  It is really fun watching him observe his surroundings and take everything in wherever we are.  Since Henry is barely one, I know this year's Fall traditions will be more for Momma.  I'll just have to scrapbook all of it so he can "remember" the fun we had when he's older. 

There are so many things I would like to do this Fall with Henry, but I think taking baby steps is the way to go.  I've created a short bucket list of baby friendly activities to do this Fall.  

1. Pick a Pumpkin - I love going to the pumpkin patch each year.  We usually go to Fritzler's Farm in Northern Colorado, but we may stick closer to home this year.  The pumpkin patches near us have a lot of fun fall activities like hay rides and corn mazes, so maybe we can add some more Fall activities to our family traditions list!

2. Play in a pile of leaves - if I'm going to be raking the leaves in my yard, we might as well play in them, right? Hopefully he doesn't eat too many of them.

3. Go Trick-or-Treating  - we'll probably only go to our next door neighbor's and then set up camp in our house for the rest of the evening to hand out candy to the other neighborhood kids.  It will be fun to see him dressed up, because I'm sure he isn't going to quite get the concept. 

And offering him lots of pumpkin spice things so he will love it as much as his Momma does. 

The Day I Quit My Job

I've been a working mom for almost nine months. It was right around the time of my last update, that I realized it just isn't for me. I enjoy going to the office every day, but I spend more time wishing I were with my little dude than growing my career. I decided a couple of months ago that I am going to hang up my corporate hat for a while and focus on raising my family and making a home. 

This decision is not one that I came to lightly. The night my husband came home and suggested that I give my notice at work, my initial reaction was, "I'm not ready! Work is going well and we're about to become really busy. I don't want to let my team down." A reaction that surprised both my husband and myself. When I first went back to work, there were so many days when I wanted to walk into my boss' office and hand over my computer and badge. So many nights I would spend crying while holding my baby because I had missed him so much. But Ben and I had goals that we had set and debts to pay off. I had committed to going back to work to help my family reach those goals and lay down the foundation for all of us to have a better future.  

While grappling with the decision to give my resignation, a lot of unexpected feelings and questions came up. I felt like I was going to be letting my team down. We were just about to get into one of our busiest times of year. Did I want to stay on for another two months to complete the project? How would the additional paychecks impact our family if I were to stay for another six weeks? eight weeks? ten weeks? How much more will Henry change in that time? In just the four weeks prior to me giving my resignation he had gone from rolling over to crawling, to pulling up and walking along things. He is beginning to understand what we mean when we tell him "no" or "up" or "good job!" Was the foregone accomplishment of finishing the biggest project of the year and the extra income worth what I may miss out on in the coming months?

I thought about whether or not I was ready to begin a new chapter in my life for a week before finally deciding to resign. I decided that there will never be a good time to give my resignation. There will always be another project, another deadline, another reason to put it off. I walked into the office on August 1 and let my team know that I would be leaving so that I could stay home with Henry. I braced myself for the typical cold shoulder reaction I had received in the past when resigning from a job. I just knew my manager and my team were going to be upset that I was leaving at such a critical time of year. Instead, I was met with an incredible understanding from everyone on my team. In fact, everyone in the office was remarkably supportive.

My original resignation period was five weeks. Enough time to get my team through the really busy part of year and help to train the new team member who had started only a week before I gave my notice. I was approached by my director about staying for a total of eleven weeks, with a flexible work schedule option starting in September. This gave me the opportunity to see two big projects through and help train my replacement. Most importantly, this option allowed everyone to transition to this new lifestyle slowly.

I am very excited and very nervous for this new chapter. I am looking forward to spending more time with Henry and watching him learn and grow. I know I will miss my co-workers and even the spreadsheets and stresses of work. For now we are all taking it one day at a time and looking forward to our new normal.

Working Mom

In the weeks leading up to my return to work after maternity leave, I had scoured the internet for the best tips for the transition.  One of my goals with Henry has been to be able to breastfeed until his first birthday.  I didn't want all of the work we had put into nursing so far to go down the drain now that he would be having 2-3 of his meals a day by bottle.  I passed along the resources I had found to my mother-in-law, who would be watching Henry while I was at work.  All of the advice I had found worked!  We never experienced a nursing strike or a major dip in supply.  Henry and I are just about ten months in to our nursing journey, and I know the next two months will breeze by.

I hope this collection of links, articles and charts for going back to work and transitioning your baby's day to a caregiver helps to make the process go smoothly.

I love this article about how a breastfed baby is different than a formula fed baby.

A helpful reminder on how to safely store breastmilk, also how to defrost and warm.

This article, this handout, and this video have information on how to bottle feed a breastfed baby (i.e. Paced Bottle Feeding).

We use this chart to track our baby's day and make communication between parents and caregivers seamless.

I love this article about advice for working moms.

Returning to work can seem almost impossible, but you've got this, Momma!

Are you returning to work soon?  Check out my posts about my experience as a working mom 3-months and 6-months in.

Weekly Wrap-Up

This week flew by! We have been experiencing really hot weather here in Colorado, but each night this week a storm rolled in over the mountains and cooled everything off. I love summer rainstorms and the beautiful rainbows they leave behind. 

I went to Vail on Monday for work and got to spend some time checking out their summer activities. The mountain coaster was so much fun! If you've ever done an alpine slide, the coaster is very similar and reimagined with lots of twists and turns. I love how the ski resorts have fun summer activities too. The Rocky Mountains are gorgeous in the summer and I love having another reason to take a trip up. 

This weekend we'll be busy soaking in the summertime before I get swamped at work in the next couple of weeks. The zoo and a baseball game are on the docket, with lots of free time to spend playing in the backyard with the little monkey.  Follow along on Instagram to see what adventures we find!

Do you have any fun plans this weekend? 

Beach Baby

We took Henry to the beach for the first time while we were in Hawaii.  It was really fun to play in the waves and sand with him.  Going to the beach with a baby in tow is a little different than just as a couple. There were fewer pina coladas and more naps. Which was fine by me.

There are a million What to Bring to the Beach with kids posts floating around the Internet. I read some of them and found some helpful tips (who knew baby powder was magical sand remover, too?). A few things I would add are: 

Be flexible. Before I was a mom I couldn't get out the door fast enough to get to the beach on vacation. I loved staking out the perfect spot where we would hang out all day. This time we only spent 2-3 hours at the beach each day. It was too hot for Henry to nap at the beach, so we would go between nap times. Honestly, this was the perfect amount of time at the beach for me. We spent the whole time playing with Henry and trying to keep him from eating the sand. Between the sun and chasing a baby around, I was ready for a nap after a couple of hours. 

Baby cabanas are super practical (and cute, too!). We brought this awesome cabana to the beach everyday. It was perfect for Henry to play in while we were laying on the beach. It kept him out of the sun and he thought it was pretty cool too. 

Your baby will try to eat sand (and everything else at the beach). Once babies figure out they can put things in their mouth, everything is fair game. A friend told me that for a baby something doesn't exist if it doesn't go in their mouth. Henry got a bit lot of sand in his mouth. The look on his face as he swished it around was hilarious. By the third day the novelty has worn off and he stopped trying to eat is by the fistful (although he still did shove some in). I'm sure sand wouldn't be on one of those "Top Ten Baby Foods" lists, but a little can't hurt too much. 

Have fun. You're on vacation! Try to relax and enjoy it! We played in the water with Henry and he loved it! Whether he was floating in his little baby raft or one of us was holding him, he thought it was pretty cool to splash around. He also liked sitting on the shore and having the waves wash over his toes. Most importantly, we all enjoyed time together as a family. 

Weekly Wrap-Up

My view last weekend

It's the weekend again! Yay!

This week seemed to fly by and drag on, at the same time.  I only went to the office four days because we got home from Hawaii on Monday morning.  Red-eye flights seem like a great idea while you're booking them, but once you're beyond exhausted when you finally get home, you wish you had slept in a bed the night before instead of an awkward airplane seat.  Although, relaxing on the beach with my boys for a few days trumps any of the exhaustion and discomfort that arises from travelling between Hawaii and the mainland.  

Nights have been a little rough for us this week.  I've heard my friends say that their babies have trouble sleeping in their own rooms after spending some nights in a hotel room together as a family.  I think we experienced this after our trip.  Also, Henry is teething.  Getting him to bed took much longer than it should have and he wasn't interested in sleeping through the night.  I was beginning to become a little annoyed with his prolonged cuddling sessions before bed, but then I remembered that he won't always want to cuddle with me and savored our one on one time together.

Mornings have been rough for me.  I don't know if its the jet lag from traveling west to east, or that the mornings are so peaceful in our neighborhood that made me want to snuggle in and hit snooze way too many times.  I woke up later than I should have every morning and barely made it to work on time.  I stumbled across this post about how to be a better wife and mom, and basically it says you should wake up earlier so you don't feel as frantic in the mornings.  I had good intentions of applying this logic every night before bed, but it never happened.  There's always next week. 

There's something about Thursday evenings that make us throw all of our meal planning efforts out the window.  I had planned on making crockpot BBQ pork, but because I have been sleeping in I didn't have time to throw everything together.  We settled on Qdoba for dinner, which has become a favorite of ours again.  I love their mango salad and the crunchy bowl that it comes in.  Have you tried their knock-out tacos?  They are delicious and you don't have to make any decisions about which toppings you would like, which is partly why I love them so much.  I'm not very good at making decisions.

This weekend we are spending time with friends and together as a family.  I hope to make this side dish for a BBQ we are going to and these cookies as a sweet treat to take to work next week. 

Back to Work | Six Months In

It's hard to believe that I've been back to work for over six months now.   Some days it seems like just yesterday that I was dropping my little guy off at my in-law's and heading to the office for the first time since he was born.  Other days it feels like I have been a working mom forever.  I thought I would post another update about the things I have learned since being back to work. 

Pumping at work is hard work.  Trying to find an hour during my already packed day is becoming more difficult.  At my office there are only two pumping rooms and there are a lot of nursing mommas.  We have to reserve our times for the "quiet room" months in advance.  If you miss your time because a meeting ran late, you're pretty much out of luck.  Although I have a laptop that I take with me to the quiet room, gathering all of my things twice a day and getting set up usually ruins the momentum I had going with my work.  I find it difficult to work on a laptop on your lap while you're also hooked up to the pump, there just isn't enough room.  My goal is to be able to breastfeed for one year.  I've made it this far, I feel like I can buckle down and make it three more months.  I have realized that pumping at work is more of a marathon than the sprint I thought it was when I first returned to work.

My weekends are sacred.  I lived for the weekend before Henry was born, but I also feel like I had more freedom to do things after work instead of trying to cram all of my social gatherings, chores, and errands into two days.   We tend to spend most weeknights at home now.  Every once in a while we will  make a mid-week trip to the grocery store, but now that Henry is older and more mobile I want to be able to give him lots of playtime at our home before bedtime each night.  When I first returned to work I had a bad tendency of packing our weekends full of things to do.  When I would look at my calendar I was overwhelmed.  I only get four, maybe five, weekends a month to see friends and family, do chores, run errands, and have me time.  I've started winding down the amount of things we do on the weekends.  I really try to have only one event on the weekend so that we can have one full day to hang out just as a family, get things ready for the next week, or have some me time.  I've learned that allowing that time is necessary and more important for my family than getting together with extended family or friends.

My nights are wonderfully predictable.  Evenings at our house are much busier than before Henry was born.  Ben picks Henry up in the evenings.  I rush home from work to feed Henry while Ben makes dinner for us.  We eat dinner as a family, which is really entertaining now that Henry is eating solids.  I clean up Henry and the kitchen while Ben does another chore.  We play with Henry for a little bit and then its time for bed.  By the time Henry is sound asleep Ben and I only have energy to watch maybe one TV show before turning out the lights.  I'm asleep the second my head hits the pillow.  Compared to the easy going, lazy nights we had just a year ago it feels like we are running at full speed from the time we get home until the time we turn out the lights.  I can't believe that we used to come home from work and watch TV or sit outside in the backyard for hours.  I'll admit sometimes I even felt bored after work.   I love that I know what our evenings consist of.  Even if they are incredibly packed and crazy.

I still have bad days and good days with both of my jobs.  Some days I dread going into the office because I am having a great morning with Henry.  Other days I can't get to the office quickly enough because I am craving adult interaction.  I've learned to lean on my village more and have found comfort in knowing that Henry has a great network of people he loves who are helping to raise him.  I still miss him all day while I’m at the office, but I love seeing his smiling face when I walk through the door in the evening.

Carry-on for Momma

one | two (similar)| three | four | five | six (similar)

This time last week I was relaxing on the beach in Hawaii!  Oh how I wish to be back there.  I had technical difficulties while in Hawaii that prevented me from posting while on vacation.  I'll be posting this week all about vacation and some tips for travelling with a baby.  Yesterday I showed you what I packed in my carry-on for Henry. My hands are pretty full when traveling with him, so I like to pack all of our carry-on essentials in one backpack.

Henry loves to play with my everyday necklaces. The sparklier, the better. I thought it would be nice to wear one that I don't mind him pulling on and chewing on. I packed an extra t-shirt for me in my carry-on in case of an epic blow-out, soak through, or spit up. 

Flying makes me dehydrated so I like to bring my own water bottle with me. I drink a full bottle before going through security, fill it up at one of the water bottle fill up stations and drink another full bottle before boarding.  During the in-flight beverage service I ask for two cups of water without ice.  Sometimes the flight attendants will fill up my water bottle for me before we land.  So much water also means lots of trip to the ladies' room, so I tend to be somewhat of an expert on where they can be found.  

I use this wallet as my everyday wallet. I love that it has so many spots for cards, has two zippered pockets inside, and zips closed all the way around so nothing can fall out. It's easy to grab and throw in my diaper bag or work bag. As a travel wallet it is big enough to carry my tickets and I can toss it in my backpack instead of carrying a purse. 

We flew United to Hawaii, which offers a large selection of movies and TV shows to watch through their app during the flight. I love hat I can use my own iPad to catch up on movies I haven't seen and that I can pause the movie if I need to. I watch Inside Out and Aloha on our flights. Inside Out was great! I'd love to buy it for Henry when he is older. Aloha was predictive, yet confusing. Although, I'm not positive I didn't fall asleep during part of it. 

Airplanes tend to be a bit cold for me. I like to wear a fun scarf that I can use to wrap up in. A scarf doesn't take up much room in my backpack either if I don't end up needing to wear it. 

I also brought a bag of toiletries for the plane, including lip balm and lotion. Snacks are also a must. I tried to stick to healthier options at the store, but I couldn't resist the Brookside Farms chocolates. They're dark chocolate and fruit, which makes them healthy, right? 

Carry-on for Baby

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven 

We went to Hawaii last week to visit family and relax a bit. This was our second trip with Henry and it was great to spending some time with him on the beach playing in the sand.  When traveling I like to use a backpack as a diaper bag and carry-on since I can easily wear it on my back while I carry Henry in the Ergo 360 through the airport. I pack diaper changing essentials in a zippered pouch so I don't have to carry the whole backpack with me to the tiny airplane bathroom. I like to bring an Aden and Anis swaddle blanket because they are so versatile.  I can use it as a nursing cover, burp cloth or a blanket if the plane is chilly. Henry's favorite toys are with us too so we can keep him entertained. And, of course, we can't forget his monkey. 

Henry slept most of the flight to Hawaii and the entire time on the way back.  I guess there is a benefit to taking the red-eye.  We were lucky and ended up with an entire row to ourselves, which was awesome because we had more room to spread out.  Henry thought it was so cool to sit on the seat by himself for a little bit while we were at cruising altitude.  I read these tips in preparation for our trip, I found them really helpful, especially number 9. 

Unplugged in Paradise

I had great plans to finish up some blog posts in the morning while sitting on the lanai and enjoying my coffee. Our condo here is beautiful and peaceful, but I can't get my laptop to connect to the wi-fi. Best laid plans, right? So, change of plans, I'm going to sit on the lanai and enjoy my morning coffee while watching the sunrise with Henry. Because he is still on Colorado time and work up at 4 a.m. this morning. 

See what we're up to on our Hawaiian adventure on Instagram. 

Diary of an Overpacker

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In April we took our first trip as a family of three to Florida.  It was so much fun to have Henry spend time with my aunts, uncles, and cousins and to take him to Disneyworld.  This was Henry's first flight and I was very nervous about being prepared for everything and anything.  We definitely overpacked.  Seriously.  We brought so much stuff.  I'm sure we looked like we were moving to Florida, not just going for four days and three nights.  I've notoriously been an overpacker my whole life but adding a baby to the mix made it much, much worse.

This is the packing list I created in OneNote:

(The asterik is item we packed in our carry-on)

Looking back at the list, we did use most of the items we brought.  We just brought too many of certain things.  These are the things I would bring with my on our next trip:

In addition to the baby staples (diapers, wipes, car seat, etc.), I found these three things the most helpful on our trip and will definitely be packing them again in the future.

Swim Diapers

We borrowed two reusable swim diapers from a friend and they were awesome.  We didn't spend a whole lot of time in the pool, but Henry was much more comfortable in the swim diaper than a regular diaper.  I have since tried disposable swim diapers at our local pool and they work great too.  We did try using a regular diaper once, and it was not very useful.  It immediately absorbed full of pool water and poor little Henry didn't look too comfortable.

Car Seat Bag and Stroller Bag

Ok, so these are technically two items from the lists above, but they're both bags so I can group them together, right?  The car seat bag we have is amazing. It works for both infant carriers and convertible car seats and has a lot of extra room for you to pack other items.  It also has backpack straps to make it easy to carry from the parking lot to the terminal.  This stroller bag is made especially for our stroller and protects the stroller from the manhandling bags go through when they are checked.  We did bring our stroller through security (more on that here), and packed up the stroller in the travel bag at the gate to be plane side checked.  A huge bonus with this stroller and bag is that UppaBaby has a travel warranty and if the airline damages your stroller UppaBaby will replace it.  

Ergo

I love my Ergo 360 and use it all the time.  It seems to be the best way for us to get things done around the house on the weekends, but it was also great for travelling.  I wore Henry onto the plane in the Ergo, which was awesome because I still had my hands free.  We also used it at DisneyWorld when we would go on rides with Henry.

Looking back on all of the things that we brought to Florida, I feel like I must have thought we were going to the middle of nowhere instead of Orlando.  Orlando has Targets.  In fact there was one less than ten minutes from our hotel, and I definitely could have made a quick trip for anything we would have forgotten. 

Clothes

I know that Henry definitely needed clothes on our vacation (even though he is super cute rolling around in just his diaper).  But, I brought way too many clothes.  We did not need five sets of jammies for three nights.  We did not need seven outfits for four days (and I actually ended up packing closer to twelve).  Next time I will bring one outfit for each day and one extra outfit just in case.  If he manages to go through all of his clothes before it is time to go home, I will just run to Target.  Who doesn't love a Target run?

Blankets

I had originally packed blankets because I wanted Henry to have something to lay on if he wanted to play on the floor.  The hotel room floor didn't seem too clean to me, so I never ended up letting him play on the floor anyway.  If he wasn't in someone's arms, he was in the pack 'n' play.  Next time I will only bring one blanket (if any).

Have you traveled with your baby yet?  What are some of the things you packed that you couldn't live without?

It's been a minute...

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Hello! It's been a while! I've been busy with lots of things and blogging ended up on the back burner. We've had a lot going on since we last chatted, here is what's been going on in our little world. 

Henry started crawling. Oh my gosh, so many things have changed in the ten days since he first became mobile. We have run around our house realizing we should have started baby proofing a lot sooner. He has showed us where all of the rogue cords are and is incredibly interested in the dog water. The latter will be a losing battle for me, for sure. He is responding to the word "no" (for now) so that's a positive. I have had a blast watching him figure out how to crawl these past few weeks. 

I discovered Bullet Journals and now I wish I had the time to make beautiful bullet journal pages every day. I've incorporated some of the concepts into my Simplified Planner and I look forward to filling out my stats section each morning. 

We're heading to Hawaii tomorrow to visit Ben's dad. We are really excited to spend some time on the beach in paradise. This week I'll be posting all about travel, so stay tuned!

I get by with a little help from my friends

Every time I hear this song I can't help but thing of the TV show The Wonder Years.  Anyone else?  These words have become more true in my life as I go further on this path of motherhood.  

A few days after Henry was born I was meeting with a lactation consultant to get some help with latching. During our appointment, she encouraged me to attend the next Mom's Group that the hospital sponsors.  I wasn't too sure about it. I've never been very good at making friends with girls and I'd heard horror stories of the super judgmental moms groups of today. She assured me the moms in this group would welcome me and Henry with open arms. The speaker that week was an estate planner, something Ben and I had on our to-do list since we had gotten married over two years before. I still wasn't sure if I'd fit in or feel comfortable at the moms group, but I decided to go anyway to learn more about estate planning.

It was one of the best decisions I have made as a new mom. Not only did I learn about estate planning and family law, I met a wonderful group of new moms who are now some of my closest friends. I planned my weeks while on maternity leave around Mom's Group meetings. I learned so many things I didn't know I needed to know to better understand Henry and help him thrive. From physical development, to how to pick a daycare, to mom and baby yoga. But the best thing I learned from moms group is that you need other mom friends.

Having friends that are in the same stage of life as you are comes in handy while you’re trying to figure out motherhood and parenting.  It truly does take a village to raise a baby.   Being able to lean on your friends helps so much when you're a new momma.  They understand where you're coming from.  They are also learning as they go with parenting and functioning on little sleep.   Mom friends cheer each other on at each milestone and lend a shoulder to lean on during times of struggle.

I think having a group of momma friends is so important that its one of the first pieces of advice I offer to my friends who are expecting.  Find a moms group.  Get to know other moms who have babies close in age to your baby.  I have invited practically every new mom I come across to moms group.  Coworkers.  Wives of coworkers.  My husband's coworkers.  Friends.  Neighbors.  Pregnant mommas at Target.  Moms who were in my birth class and I haven't seen since before Henry was born but happened to run into over the weekend.  True story.

If you don't already have a wonderful Mom's Group, go find one!  Ask your doctor, lactation consultant, doula, pediatrician, or hospital if they are aware of any local Mom's Groups.  Search online for Mom's Groups that meet up in your area.  Some local yoga studios and business host Mom's Groups where I live.  (Be sure to use the internet smartly and safely.  Only meet in a public place and somewhere that looks legitimate.  I wouldn't search Craig's List for Mom's Groups.)  If there isn't already a Mom's Group in your area, create one.

Get out there momma, build your village.  Make some momma friends.  It will be one of the best decisions you've ever made as a new parent.

It's Only One Day

Yesterday I had to drop Henry off at my in-law's early and work late.  My job is cyclical, so I knew the longer hours were coming, but I couldn't shake the guilt on my drive home of being away from Henry for a few hours longer than normal.  Ben fed him a bottle when he got home, instead of me nursing him as usual.  I don't know why, but the fact that I couldn't feed him his usual evening meal really got to me.  Then all of a sudden, I realized it's only one day.

I don't usually have long hours at the office.  I'm fortunate that my office is close to my home so I rarely have delays in my commute.  Having an extra bottle isn't going to ruin the rest of Henry's night.  When I walked through the door he was the same happy, smiling, talkative baby that he is every night.

I might have to work a little longer than usual in the coming weeks, and I am going to take it one day at a time.  The time I am at the office won't be detrimental to Henry.  It will allow him and Ben some more one-on-one bonding time.  I will feel more productive and accomplished at the end of the day for finishing work projects.  I will still get to spend time with my little dude before bedtime.

Being a mom is tough.  We put so much pressure on ourselves and the guilt can feel overwhelming at times.  When we have days that are a little different from the normal routine, we have to remember that it's only one day.

Plus, look at the awesome view I have from my office building.  

The view from my cubicle (if I walk away from my computer about 15 feet)

Mom's Night Out

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that a bunch of moms from my Mom's Group got together on Friday night for a Mom's Night Out. We met for happy hour/dinner and then went to one of those painting and cocktails studios. It was so much fun! We all had a blast and can't wait for the next one.  This was the first Mom's Night Out we had planned and we learned a few things that will be helpful for the next time.

The more the merrier. There were 15 of us who met for happy hour and 12 of us went to the painting studio after.   Because there were so many moms who wanted to join us for the night out, everyone wasn't able to go to the painting class because it was sold out.  One of the moms came up with a great idea of having happy hour/dinner at a restaurant near the painting studio.   Everyone met at the restaurant about an hour before the painting event.  Those of us who were painting had a drink and a quick bite to each.  Those who weren't painting stayed at the restaurant longer and had a nice dinner with girlfriends.  It was a great option that allowed anyone who wanted a girls night out to join.  Both groups had some quality girl time and an evening sans baby.   Invite as many moms as you can. I was really surprised with the turnout and I am so glad so many of us were able to make it out for a night without our little ones.

Try something new.  Some of us had gone to a painting and cocktails class before and others hadn’t.  All of us had a great time, even if our paintings didn't turn out exactly like the example. We made sure to all sit together, which made the night so much fun.  Between instructions from the artist, we would all turn  and chat with each other.  We laughed so hard that some of us cried.  It was really fun to bond over trying something together and we each have a beautiful painting to remind us of a fun night out (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?).  Mine is going to be hung in my laundry room for two reasons. One, because my laundry room is painted blue, which matches the theme of the painting; and two, only my husband and I go in the laundry room so everyone who comes over won't see how bad I am at painting.

Saturday night is probably better than Friday night.   We had a good mix of working moms and stay-at-home moms join us for a night out.  Although the class didn’t start until 6:30, I think most of us felt rushed trying to get to the class on time.   Those of us who work wouldn't have felt like we were rushing from the office to get home so that we could see our babies for a few minutes before heading out with the girls.  Those of us who didn't have to work that day were waiting for dad to get home from work so that we could leave on time.  Saturday would have been a better option because it would have given everyone a chance to wind down from the work week on Friday evening.

Mom's Night Out was a great success and really fun!  This group of moms usually gets together with our babies for playdates or walks.  It was a blast spending time with just the girls.  It is easy to get caught up in the craziness of taking care of our babies and forget about taking some time for ourselves.  Don't forget to take care of you.  

Our masterpieces!

Friday Favorites

We made it to another Friday!  Yay! I actually took today off from work to spend some time with my cousin who is in town for the weekend.  Hooray for three whole days with my boys!

I have a hard time with consistency, but I really love writing and posting new things here on the blog.  To help keep myself motivated, I'm going to try to post a wrap-up of a few of my favorite things from the week.  Here goes!

Game of Thrones season six premiered on Sunday night.  Ben and I started watching GoT while I was on maternity leave and were instantly hooked.  We finished the first five seasons in during the free 30-day trial of HBO Now.  Of course, we loved not only GoT, but also the movies and documentaries on HBO and now we are monthly subscribers.   We were so excited for the new season to begin, we could barely stand it!  Henry was awesome on Sunday night and went to bed right around 8:00 so we were able to watch the newest episode without any baby commentary.  It was great, but since we have binge-watched all of the other episodes, it was painful to not be able to keep watching after the final scene.  We can't wait until this Sunday to see how the story progresses.

I began listening to podcasts while at work before I went on maternity leave.  Pandora is great, but it tends to repeat itself and I get tired of listening to the same old music.   My favorite podcasts include Pop CultureHappy Hour and KS1075 Morning Show Podcast.  I discovered Stuff You Should Know this week.  Check them out if you are looking for new podcasts to subscribe to.

My mother-in-law picked up these shoes for Henry last summer while visiting Australia and they are awesome.  They don't fall off, Henry can't pull them off, and they are super cute!  Henry started wearing them this week and I love them! 

Tonight I have a girls night out with some of the moms from my Mom's Group.  We are going to happy hour and then Whimsey Paint and Sip to test our artistic abilities.  Just kidding, we're going to enjoy some beverages while attempting to paint the same picture as the instructor.  It is sure to end up in lots of laughs and fun memories!

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Wrap-up

It has been a busy week around here!  We took our first trip as a family of three to Florida.  We left a snowy, cold Colorado "spring" for warm, sunny Florida and came home to sunny days in the 70's.  We missed the little cold spell for once! We have a busy weekend planned with playdates and birthday parties.  I'll be back next week with some details of our trip and some tricks I learned along the way about traveling with a baby.  

Follow me on Instagram if you'd like to see what we're up to! 

Have a great weekend!

Here's what we've been up to this week:

The Jenkins take Disneyworld

We went with my family to Disneyworld and it was so much fun!  I didn't think that Henry would be as interactive as he was, but he loved it!  His favorite part was definitely meeting Mickey Mouse.  He smiled and giggled at him while trying to grab his nose.  Let's be honest, it was my favorite part of the day too!

Henry swam in the pool for the first time and I think he enjoyed it (it's so hard to tell sometimes whether the look on his face is deep concentration or utter disgust).  The pool was a little chilly, but it was really warm in Orlando so I think the cool water felt refreshing to him like it did for us.  Ben would hold Henry and swim with him around the pool letting him kick his legs.  We also let Henry float in a little baby raft, which he also seemed to like. The best part about the pool at the hotel is that it was a "zero-entry" pool so Henry could sit in the shallow part and splash in the water.

It was a big week of firsts for Henry, he rolled over for the first time too!  And I was able to catch it on video!  Now he has been rolling all over the place and sleeping on his stomach (which freaks me out).  I didn't sleep very much last night because I kept getting up to check on him.  He can roll from back-to-front and front-to-back so I know that I shouldn't worry, but he's my little dude and I have to make sure he's safe!

I took Thursday and Friday off of work even though we got back from Florida on Wednesday afternoon.  I wanted to have a cushion built in during my time off just in case the trip was more exhausting than I was used to.  Luckily it wasn't so Henry and I have had a great couple of days hanging out and adventuring around town!  We went to the zoo on Thursday with our friends and a walk on Friday with some other friends.  

Friday was my bestie's birthday so Henry and I took her out for lunch at our favorite spot in Louisville, Lulu's, followed by ice cream from our favorite ice cream shop, Sweet Cow.  Maggie and I ate our ice cream on a walk to the park to have Henry play on the swings (another first!).  We wrapped up the week with a good old fashioned family outing of grocery shopping.  Fridays are the best days to go to the store, neither Costco nor King Soopers was busy and we were finished with our weekly errands much more quickly than if we had gone on Saturday or Sunday.

The weather is supposed to be really nice this weekend, so we plan on spending a lot of it outside!  What are you up to this weekend?  Let me know in the comments below! See you next week!

Back to Work | Three Months In

Monday marked three months of being back at work for me. Which means I have now been a working momma for longer than I was at home with Henry during maternity leave. These three months have gone by so quickly! It definitely hasn't been the easiest of transitions, and here are some of the things I have learned:

Going back to work is one of the hardest things I have done. The first couple of weeks back to work I was a wreck. I was very overwhelmed with my new schedule of getting Henry ready and to my in-laws in the mornings before getting to work.  I felt like I was always behind. I was having a hard time adjusting to everything I had to do. On top of that, the first week Henry really missed me. He wanted to make up for the time we weren't together during the day by cuddling all night long. Which was super sweet, but since we don't bed share I was spending most of my night awkwardly sleeping in the glider in his nursery while he slept soundly on my chest. Not a very comfortable way to get some rest after a long day of working and taking care of a baby. I cried every night when I got home from work. I felt like I was missing so much (even though I really wasn't). 

Big transitions like this can trigger feelings of postpartum depression. At my six-week postpartum appointment I took the questionnaire that is supposed to tell you and your care provider of you are at risk for developing PPD. I scored really low (which meant PPD was not even on the radar for me). I love being a momma and after Henry was born was one of the happiest times of my life. I definitely had some "Baby Blues" in the first couple of days home, but I never felt depressed. Going back to work brought all of the warning signs of PPD to the surface. In the weeks before I went back to work I became very bitter and refused help from those who loved me. I felt like I was the only one who could truly care for Henry. I cried all the time. I was very snippity and short with Ben. These feelings continued to grow in the first few weeks back at work. I was happy at work and loved seeing my co-workers and friends, but every night the negativity would set in and I couldn't bring myself  to see all of the positives in my life. I called my doctor to get help. She referred me to a counselor at the Postpartum Wellness Center of Boulder, who helped me learn to cope with the negative and overwhelming feelings I had been having. I saw my counselor every week for eight weeks. After each session I truly felt better. She validated the feelings I was having and taught me how to manage the stressors in my life. 

It does get better. After being back to work for about three weeks I started to feel a lot better. Each week is a little easier.  I figured out a schedule for the mornings. I make sure to do things at night to help "tomorrow's me" out. I don't cry every night after work. I play with Henry until bed time and enjoy the time we have together. Henry sleeps by himself again in his crib and I am getting more sleep. I am back into the swing of things at work and truly enjoying my job again. Some days are still really hard. Each week I can't wait for Friday to be over so I can spend two days with my family. On Sunday I do get a little sad about the week ahead and being away from Henry. I take it one day at a time and each night when I put Henry to bed I tell him the number of days left until weekend. On Friday mornings I burst into his room exclaiming, "We made it to Friday!"

Letting those who love you help you makes all the difference in the world. I am a very independent woman and always have been. It was (and still is) hard for me to ask for help. But I have gotten better at it. It doesn't necessarily take a village to raise a child, but leaning on your village does help. Ben and I share the responsibility of driving Henry to and from Grandma and Grandpa's each day. Ben cooks dinner at night so I can feed Henry and we can have a good chunk of time after dinner to hang out as a family. My in-laws drive Henry to my office at lunch so I can see him and nurse. My mom and dad pick up the phone every time I call. Without my village I would be so overwhelmed. I am so grateful for these people and everything they do. 

Whether you're heading back to work tomorrow, in a month, or in six months, just know that you can make it through this transition. It will be hard. You will be sad. But that's ok. Reach out to your village for help. Cry if you need to. It does get better. Plus, you have something to look forward to every night when you head home from work.  Baby giggles and snuggles are the best cure for a long day at the office.

Evenings now consist of stories about dinosaurs and pirates