Back to Work!

February 21st.  The day I dreaded since clocking out for the last time December 22nd.  The day I went back to work...

Well that was Tuesday and it actually hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought.  I spoke with my boss and she said as long as I am getting all my work done, it's alright if I don't meet the 40 hour/week requirement (at least for now).  What a relief!  I have been so blessed and have been able to get things done quickly.  I know the work will start to pile up here soon, but I've been able to get more than enough done in about 6 hours/day instead of the typical 8.

I'm also lucky in that I don't have to leave my little man with anyone else- working from home has it's ups and downs, but that is the biggest "up" there is.  I actually have a pretty good schedule down and work during the late morning until dinnertime (which is when he is most sleepy) with a few breaks for feeding him and changing his diaper- with some play time mixed in there.  He usually wakes up around 7pm and spends most of the evening bright-eyed and bushy tailed, which I have come to love.  I feed him for the last time at 10pm and he's been pretty good at falling asleep when he finishes at about 10:30.  Andrew and I have also been extremely blessed in that since I've started working again, Jake has slept a million times better.  He was still waking up every 3-4 hours with an occasional 5 hour stretch, which we would jump for joy about just last week.  However, he's now doing about 10:30pm-6ish am.  It's only been for a few days now, but I sure hope that keeps up.  What a blessing!

Here's where Jake spends a lot of the time that I'm working

I love the funny faces he pulls- he is always experimenting with moving his face around, and it is so fun to watch!

I feel very blessed to be able to work from home- it's the only way Andrew and I will make it through all this school without student loans.  So far so good- we each have a bachelor's degree, he has his master's, and only a few more years until we're done with school for good :)  I'm excited for the poor college student stage to end and have a real income someday, but I am loving every moment of it right now.  Life really is great!

the BIG two-five

On Valentines Day I turned 25!  I'm actually 2 1/2 weeks older than Andrew, so March 4th he'll join me in being a quarter of a century old! This is the first birthday I've truly felt like an adult: 25, married for about 3 years, graduated from college for a few years, and we have a baby! I can't believe how fast life has happened, but it's been a great 25 years so far!

Andrew got me a dozen beautiful roses!

I also received a number of cards (and Jake and Andrew too for Valentines day)- we love getting mail.  Jake got a whole Valentines Day package from his Grandma and Grandpa Olsen, including socks, pacifier's, a new cute church outfit, shoes, and books.  I thought it was really cute that Andrew had Jake give me a birthday and Valentine's day card.

We had a pretty relaxing morning and then went out to a late lunch/early dinner at Chili's.  That was Jake's first time out to eat, and I'm pretty sure he never even realized we were gone because his eyes didn't open once.   Andrew and I had fun, though!  Then after that we went on a quick birthday shopping trip- I wanted a new shirt because my old one's still aren't fitting the best after having Jake.  Andrew pushed him around in the stroller, and again, I'm not sure our little guy even realized we left our apartment.  I found a good deal at New York and Company and ended up with 2 shirts using some of my birthday money.  It was really nice to just get out of the apartment.  I REALLY like where we live, but we haven't left much for fear of getting the baby sick.

Andrew and I are currently in the middle of a Harry Potter movie marathon, so we watched number 5 and snuggled with baby Jake. 

I'm not really a cake person, so Andrew surprised me with ingredients to make chocolate covered mandarin oranges and strawberries instead- SO much better!

I had a great birthday and have had a wonderful 25 years- life keeps getting better and I can't wait to see what the next quarter of a century holds!

6 Weeks Already?

Thursday our little baby will be 6 weeks old already!  I cannot believe how fast the time is flying by.  Today he had his first doctor's appointment since the original one right after he was born.  He's up to 22 inches long (50th percentile) and a whopping 10lbs and 2 oz (42nd percentile).  He really has bulked up because when he was born his weight was only the 25th percentile.  He's growing like crazy!  He also had the second Hep B shot today.  The poor little guy screamed for a second and turned bright red (a true Buckeye baby) but luckily has been fine since.  It's rough to see him get the shots, but I am so thankful for modern medicine and the fact that he can get these shots to prevent potential serious issues and illness in the future.

It has been fun to watch him become more alert as well.  He loves looking around and often fixates on something he finds interesting.  He loves the mobile above is bed and the one on his swing as well.  He usually picks one of the animals and you can watch his eyes follow it around as it spins.

He has also started to smile more and more.  I can't get over how much I LOVE that gummy grin.  He's eating about 3oz of formula every 2.5 hours (unfortunately I haven't been able to breastfeed, which was pretty traumatic to learn but I've come to terms with) and is making it 4.5 hour stretches during the night.

My favorite new trick of Jake's is laying him down in his crib wide awake and him falling asleep on his own.  He is definitely a night owl.  Most nights he wakes up at 8 or 9pm and is WIDE awake until about 1am.  Yikes.  That has not been working with my schedule at all.  He's awake a lot during the day too- about an hour to an hour and a half with each feeding (and I'm doing 2.5 hours from the beginning of one to the beginning of another).  He's just a very awake little guy.  I've been moving up the time a little each night that I lay him in his crib, and last night about an hour after I put him down I looked on the monitor and he was still moving all around, clearly awake, but quiet and happy as a clam.  That's seriously the best skill I could have picked for him to learn!

This past Sunday we took him to church for the first time.  We were up in Wadsworth (my home town) visiting my family, so we took him to the ward I grew up in.  He slept like a champ through the first and last part and was really only awake enough to eat in the middle.  I stayed in the room to feed him for awhile, but then he was squeaking too much and eating so loudly that I passed him off to Andrew to take out in the hall while he finished his bottle.  That was probably a wise choice considering how loud he burps a lot of the time.  All in all it went well and we'll definitely take him back again next week- this time in Columbus :)

Andrew and I have LOVED being parents and can't get over how much we adore him and melt when he grins at us.  We are definitely enjoying being a family of 3 :)