Wordless Wednesday- Up, Up and Away

Wordless Wednesday- Sunflowers

Another Day Older......

I turned 30 yesterday.

I haven't been looking forward to this birthday, but it wasn't so bad.
I don't feel any different. But, I haven't actually had to answer the question
"How old are you?" with the dreaded answer, "Thirty".
That might be weird for the first few times.

My husband brought me this beautiful bouquet on Friday night, to kick off my birthday weekend.


I also got a package in the mail from my dear friend, Tracy (whom I wish would start a blog, hint, hint!)

When I opened the box, there were 30 individually wrapped gifts inside. One for each year of my life.

I had such a wonderful time sitting down and opening each and every thoughtful gift.

We drove up to Decatur for the weekend, to visit my family. We went out to eat on Sunday night with my mom. Of course, we got the obligitory free birthday dessert, but without the embarrasing staff birthday song! (THANK YOU!)

Once we got back to my mom's house, after dinner, Keith gave me my birthday present!

Oh, wait, I posted the wrong picture there.... :)
Here is my birthday present-

A new camera! And, that is the color- a pretty, pale pink. Keith said it isn't "girly pink", so he'll still be able to use the camera.

We came home yesterday and just spent the afternoon hanging out at home. Keith made me birthday brownies last night and sang Happy Birthday to me while I blew out my candles.
All my wishes have already come true.

I'm a very fortunate 30 year old.

Transition....

A few days ago I posted about being an official SAHM.

I know that many of my fellow bloggers are SAHM. I have to give you the credit and respect you deserve.

In twelve weeks, it has been harder than any other job I've held.
Don't get me wrong, in twelve weeks, it has also been more rewarding than any other job I've held.
But, that doesn't make the difficult times disappear. It does, however, make them more bearable.

Today was a particularly difficult day. Chloe was just "off". She wasn't eating well, wasn't napping well and she was fussy in the morning and early afternoon. Typically she is fussy in the evening. Of course, this happened on what I call "Keith's long day", which means he leaves for work at 7:00am and gets home from work around 7:30pm. 7:30pm couldn't come fast enough today.

I have to admit, today I wondered if I was crazy for quitting my job and deciding to stay home with Chloe. But, once the cries stopped and the smiles appeared, I knew I made the right decision.
My husband only confirmed that for me when he got home. He is unbelievably supportive and said he was proud of me and what I chose to do for our family. He told me that Chloe will appreciate me being home with her so much and he appreciates it too.

I know those things, deep down. They were just buried a lil bit deeper today.....
Tomorrow is a new day and I'm looking forward to spending it at home, with my daughter.

Wordless Wednesday- "CHEESE"

It's Official......

.....I'm a stay at home mom.

Wow. How weird to even type that.

You know when you are young and you have this plan for your life? My plan was always to get married, have children, but keep my career. It was very important to me to remain independent, financially. Once I got old enough to start thinking about having children, the idea of staying home appealled to me, but I was pretty sure we weren't going to be in the position that would allow me to stay home. After I got pregnant, I knew that I was not going to be able to leave our baby with someone else all day long, week after week.

God truly had a plan for us. If I would have gotten pregnant even 8 months earlier, staying at home would not have been an option. Now, I'm able to stay home with our daughter AND we are getting ready to purchase our first home! I'm so thankful.

Friday was my official last day of work. It's strange, knowing that I am done. It's strange knowing that my days are now filled with diaper changes, feedings, lullabies and pat-a-cake instead of drawing blood and giving people HIV results. It's strange that I can wear my t-shirts and yoga pants and not skirts and slacks.
It's just strange.....

I won't miss my job, but I will miss my boss, Dale and my buddy, Karen. I feel so bad sometimes, leaving Karen "alone" at work. If she would have left me there, I would have been just devastated. She was my rock, my sounding board. Make sense? I will miss seeing her every day and our conversations. She must have been all part of God's plan for me at that job.

I need to bring this post to an end... gotta say goodbye to my husband, who has to go off to work in order to bring home the bacon.

Swaddle No More

I've been dreading this day...

The day we decide to stop swaddling Chloe.

That day came yesterday.

Chloe has a nighttime routine. She gets a bath about 30 minutes before her last feeding of the night. Then we do baby massage with lavender scented baby lotion, read her a book, nurse her, then swaddle her in a miracle blanket and lay her in her crib. This routine works very well for all of us and Chloe goes right to sleep on her own.

Well, we woke up Friday morning and she had done a complete 180 in her crib. I don't know how she managed this, especially while she is all swaddled up. That was enough to make me consider giving up the swaddle. (I was going to stop around 12 weeks anyways, so I guess we are just a week early)
I've read that when they start to roll over or move around, you need to keep their arms free so they can move their head if they get flipped over to their belly.

I was so scared. She sleeps so well all snug as a bug in a rug.

I was going to mess up her routine. I was just hoping that the bath, lotion, story and nursing would be enough for her to realize it was bedtime. Oh, the thought of those flailing arms and legs scared the crap out of me. They wake her up every time.

Everything was going fine (except for the puddle of pee that occurred while she was diaper-less on her way to the bath). I finished nursing her and got her all zipped up in her sleep sac.

Oh, I decided to use a sleep sac for the swaddle transition. Figure that way at least her legs don't have full range of motion.

I thought I was home free. She went to bed. Or so I thought. She gave me enough time to wash my face and go to the bathroom before she started whimpering. I waited. The whimper turned to crying. I went to her crib, picked her up and rocked her for 5 minutes. She went right to sleep. Laid her back down in her crib. About 10 minutes later she was fussing again. I can't stand to let her fuss, so I rocked her again, this time for about 10 minutes. When I laid her down this time, she stayed down (and asleep!) until 7:00 this morning!

Tonight is the second night in her sleep sac. So far, she hasn't woken up.
Keeping my fingers crossed on my way to bed.......