Back to work

On Monday, Jan. 28, it happened. My maternity leave ended and I returned to work.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to take the full 12 weeks off after having Connor. And since, for the time being, my income is necessary to meet the needs of our family, I am extremely grateful to not only have a job, but one that I actually enjoy.

But oh, leaving the kids was really hard! Tears were shed — by me. Connor and Lydia seemed fine. More than fine. They spent the day playing with and getting spoiled by Grandma. What kid wouldn't want that, right? And Grandma seemed to thoroughly enjoy the day as well. Hats off to a wonderful mother-in-law who is so willingly watching BOTH kids one day a week and Connor by himself two days. This woman is a saint!

Everyone at work seemed really excited to have me back and no one remarked on my tear-stained cheeks that I tried (and failed) to conceal with a little makeup while sitting in my car in the parking lot. Other than that, the day went OK.

Tuesday was harder. Lydia kept saying she wanted to stay home from school (daycare/preschool). She wanted to stay home with Mommy. Agh! Words like a knife in my heart. Is she old enough to be playing with my emotions for her own personal gain? If so, she is the maestro and I am the fiddle.
Once she got settled at school, however, she was totally fine and I am now convinced she was just picking up on some of my own apprehension about the transition we are in.
Even so, it caused more tears from me, so you can imagine the welcome sight these were when I came into my office from one of several meetings Tuesday.

My in-laws are so thoughtful!

Today was a much better day. I didn't cry and despite sleeping in just a little too long, we all made it out the door in one piece. It's going to be hard, but I think we're going to survive Mommy being back at work.

Thank goodness it is only part time! I want to have as much time with these adorably squishy cheeks (and the rest of him as well) before he grows up in the blink of an eye.

Family fun time

On Saturday, Jan. 19, the City of St. George celebrated its birthday and for the first time we decided to get out and join in the festivities.
After enjoying the free rides on the carousel and free root beer floats, we did a little window shopping at some of the shops downtown. It turned out to be a really fun family day!

Lydia still can't get enough of the carousel! I can't even count how many pictures we have of her riding this thing, but every time she is so excited, which makes it seem photo-worthy.

I love my little girl!

Connor is such a good baby. He hung out patiently in his stroller during Lydia's many carousel rides.

Root beer floats served courtesy of the St. George City Council.

Posing with the mannequins at one of the eclectic consignment stores downtown.

Playing in the kids area at Little Professor Bookstore.

Daddy daughter trip

Derek and Lydia recently returned from a daddy/daughter trip to El Paso, Texas to celebrate Derek's grandpa's 80th birthday. We decided we didn't want to expose Connor to the petri dish of germs that an airplane and an airport can be during the cold and flu season, so Connor and I stayed home for a little mother/son bonding and Derek and Lydia had a few days of fun on their own.

Derek was so cute as he planned for the trip. He bought special snacks, surprise books to reveal on the flight, toys specifically for the car ride to Las Vegas and more. Lydia will think traveling with Daddy is way better than traveling with Mom after this trip.

I was a little nervous for their trip -- not because Derek isn't completely capable of handling Lydia on his own -- but he was up against two extra factors that had the potential of making this trip extremely difficult: an ear infection and Lydia's fear of dogs. We took her to the doctor for some antibiotics the day before their departure but there wasn't much we could do about the dogs since Grandpa Bruce has three of them.

To alleviate my nerves, or maybe just because he thought it was fun, Derek sent me regular text pictures documenting their trip. I got such a kick out of them and it was clear they were having a great time together.

The following is the picture and text play-by-play I received during their three days.

Waiting at the gate.

Getting ready to take off. So far so good.

Playing at Barnes & Noble for a minute.

Costco shopping for the party.

Fun at the party supply store.

"I love you Daddy!" The highlight of the trip this far!

Playing and enjoying the party.

Grandpa Bruce with his three dogs around him. Evidently the party wore them all out.

Lydia found some bar stools for the kitchen. What do you think? 

Look what Aunt Billie did!

Check out the improvement. Sharing the couch with Shawtzy (the dog).
(Pam, Lydia, Leo and Billie)

Check this out! (petting the dog is a big deal)

And we're here at the gate. Now we just have to wait an hour plus. Let's hope all goes well. At least she's colored for a minute or two.

All aboard!

Meanwhile...

I was not nearly as good at documenting Connor's and my time together. Perhaps our time was not as photo-worthy? Or maybe I'm just hesitant to send pictures of myself nursing a baby via text -- which is what we did a lot of while they were gone. But we were fortunate to have my parents come down for a night to visit. I didn't photograph much, but here are a couple of snatches of our time. 

Hanging out at home

Iceberg with Grandma and Grandpa (Grady).

Church milestones & 2 months

After making our church debut with our family of four on Sunday I realized one thing: my skills with a newborn at church are really rusty.

You'd think moving to the 1 p.m. time slot would be a good thing when it comes to getting out the door  with two kids, but I think it just gives you a false sense of security -- you think you have more time in the morning than you do so it's still a mad rush at the end. Plus, I had an 11:30 a.m. meeting that was cramping my style in terms of having Connor fed and ready to sleep peacefully through the block of meetings. So, even though we arrived on time, I felt a little disheveled as we clamored into our usual pew and waited for the meeting to begin.

Halfway through Sacrament meeting I had to slip out to feed him. With a giant baby carrier and diaper bag, there is really no way to quietly make such a maneuver. However, my exit was punctuated by Lydia calling out (loudly), "Mommy! I want to go to the bathroom!"
A few minutes after settling myself into the mothers lounge to nurse Connor there was a knock at the door. It was Derek and Lydia. Apparently I had accidentally taken off with all of Lydia's snacks and keep-her-quiet-activities in the diaper bag. Lesson learned. Two bags for next week.

Even with the chaos, we did, however, have a few minutes to spare before we left for church, so I was able to take pictures of my little man looking adorable in his shirt and "tie."

I am in love with him in this outfit! Thanks to Derek's cousin for giving it to us. I want to get more. A onesie with a "tie" attached to the front? And some people say there aren't any cute clothes out there for little boys. I love it. 

Sunday was also a big day for Lydia. She moved out of the nursery at our church and into the children's class for 3 year olds known as Sunbeams. She officially now attends Primary. Am I crazy? This is a huge milestone, right? It felt like such a momentous day. I was totally nostalgic, yet beaming with excitement about it all weekend.

They had a pajama party and breakfast for all the Primary kids on Saturday to let them meet their new teachers.  Lydia was so excited to be part of such a "big girl" affair.

Sometimes I can't believe I am lucky enough to call these two little people my children.

Two months already

We went in for Connor's 2 month check up on Jan. 4 and, surprise, surprise, he is a big boy! He started out life big, so why not keep it going?

Actually, percentile wise it was his height that was nearly off the charts. His weight was up there, but not as far. We are just so grateful that he is healthy and growing! 

At two months he is giving us adorable smiles, going between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 hours between daytime feedings and he occasionally gives me a glimmer of hope for things to come when he goes 5 or 6 hours between feedings at night. Nothing consistent as fars as sleeping through the night yet, but I have a feeling it is coming. Right now he just teases me with it every now and then -- thankfully those stretches often come on the nights I REALLY need the sleep. 

{Stats}

Length: 24 3/4 inches (95 percentile)

Weight: 13 1bs. 2 oz. (81 percentile)

Head: 15.7 inches (43 percentile)

I nearly forgot to take pictures of him on his actual 2 month birthday so I snapped a couple right before putting him to bed that night. Man, he is such a cute baby!

  

2013 here we come!

With a new baby who we have yet to leave with a babysitter that isn't named Grandma, we decided this was not the year to try to make spectacular plans away from home for New Year's Eve. Instead, we brought the party in-house by inviting our friends, the Marshalls, over with their two children for dinner, games and mayhem.

The kids definitely saw to it that there was mayhem :) Not my most relaxing New Year's Eve, but I guess it isn't supposed to be.

While the babies slept or sat contentedly in the baby swing, we had a fun time eating tons of junk food, playing games, doing sparklers and expending most of our energy by trying to keep the two older kids relatively calm and entertained.
We rang in a pretend new year at 10:03 p.m. (by this point Lydia and Josh were MORE than done.  Not my most responsible night of parenting by any means but all in all, everyone seemed to have a good time.

Lydia hiding behind Derek and me. She was pretty much done celebrating by this point.

Here's to a great 2013!

So glad to spend the evening with Nick and Paige

Just a few more random shots from the holidays. 2012 was a great year! Can't wait to see what 2013 brings!

Winter wonderland

During Christmas break, I had a blast reliving some of my childhood as my brother, Kevin, and I shared our days of sledding down our driveway and down the street with our spouses and our kids.

Lydia, who only last year was crying at the thought of even stepping a foot onto the snow, did great! She really seemed to enjoy it. Whew! She may be from the warmer weather of St. George, but I don't need my daughter being a weather wimp :)

Lydia, Lisa and Derek ready for the ride

Colin, Leslie and Kevin

Lydia and Colin

Uncle Kevin was way better at steering than me and Derek.

Merry Christmas!

Although it was Connor's first Christmas, he was completely unaware of the celebration and slept through most of the fun. However, Lydia was so excited about everything! For weeks she's been telling me that Santa was bringing her an airplane. Thank goodness the Fisher Price Little People airplane Santa brought was the kind of plane she meant :)
She loved all her presents and has been playing happily with them nearly nonstop since. She is so fortunate to have such wonderful grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and great-grandparents... OK and parents... to spoil her rotten every year!

It's Christmas!!!

So excited to find her present amid the traditional strings.

Yea! The airplane!

My sweet boys! Tell me they don't look like father and son.

Take Two
On Dec. 26 we headed back to St. George for Christmas part 2 with the Larsons. What kid wouldn't want 2 Christmases?  

Grandma Larson and Lydia

Princess crown from her box of dress-ups.

Grandpa Larson assembled this enormous doll house which was a gift to Lydia and Derek. The doll house for Lydia, the fact that it was already assembled was a gift to Derek.