Tag: daycare

25 Weeks – Just Chugging Along

So…25 weeks this week. In produce terms, Baby Girl is the size of cauliflower or a rutabaga, whichever you prefer.

25 weeks ( 1 day) edit

I had a midwife appointment last week and everything looked and sounded good. I’m at 5lbs of weight gain at this point and I’m satisfied with that. She suggested a support band to help with my round ligament pains and I ordered one that afternoon. I’ve worn it a couple times and it seems to help. I’ll be doing the ever-so-loved glucose test next time which will now be 4 weeks apart instead of 6. It’s also time to start scheduling any classes I/we’ll be taking to prepare. We have to take a First Time Birth Center class and I’m considering doing another Natural Childbirth Preparedness class. We also made a stop at the Resource Area and grabbed every doula’s business card that was there so we can start the process of choosing one.

I also had a call with a registered nurse to enroll in the Maternity Support Program through my employer. The first call is basically a run-down of questions so she can get an idea of my health before pregnancy and now and if there are any red-flags that they should be aware of. I came away from that call with a few takeaways…schedule a dentist appointment (so important for preggos – hoping to write about that soon), find a source of DHA to supplement my prenatal and look for an infant/child CPR class. I also found out I need to call my benefits department to get info on the breast pump benefit and to do it soon because they are back-logged due to high demand.

As far as baby preparation, we’re making slow steady progess. After I thought we’d finished sorting, washing and putting away all Brooke’s old clothes, we found another tub of clothes as well as a big bunch of blankets. So we got all of that taken care of and I’m pretty sure that now we’ve got everything put washed and put away.

Keith and I toured a daycare center near my office. Since the place Brooke attends only accepts kiddos 12 months and up, we need to find another spot for Baby Girl. So we took a morning to drop in to one of the places we’d considered for Brooke when we first moved to Knoxville. I was very impressed…close enough that I can go for a mid-day nursing session if we want/need, they accept cloth diapers, very accomodating to family schedules/requests for the babies. They even take the babies outside for fresh air!! So we put our names on the waiting list and hopefully things will work in our favor and Baby Girl will be there this fall.

This past weekend, Brooke and I had a girls’ weekend while Keith was away at the SEC Women’s Basketball Championships and got some more shopping crossed off the list. First we hit up a cloth diaper consignment sale and got some good deals!!

My haul from the consignment sale...not bad for $60!
Got all these for $60!!

Then, armed with a 20% off coupon (!), we headed to Babies R Us to order the crib that coordinates with our crib. Although the crib is in our room, this will actually live in the playroom and act as dresser/changing table combo. I think that finishes up the “major” purchases and we’ll just need to fill in things here and there.
Dresser
So we’re just chugging along…if you look at my ticker on the sidebar, you can see I’m almost to single-digit days until my due date! Whoa!!  Don’t forget you can still put in guesses for Baby Girl’s birth stats at ExpectNet.  Just click on the button under the ticker on my sidebar to link to the game.

Until next time!!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

We got into the spirit of the holiday today!

Last night Brooke and I put together a treat for her friends at school called Pot ‘o Gold Chex mix.  She was a big help!  

First she picked out all the green M&Ms.
M&Ms

Then we got out her rolling pin and crushed up some pretzels.
pretzels

By the time she helped me measure out the different cereals and pretzels, it was time for her to go to bed. I carried on and finished putting it all together.
Finished product

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see her class eat their snack but according to Brooke, everyone liked it!

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Apparently, I didn’t get a picture, but I also made green pancakes for her to have for breakfast at the Physical Therapy center. She didn’t eat much of her pancakes but enjoyed showing them off to Miss Barbara & her physical therapist Miss Mike.

Tonight, dinner was “green spaghetti”, applesauce and a pickle on a green plate, of course!
Green dinner

We had fun getting into the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day and hope you did too!!!

Working Mommy Wednesday – Advice for Going Back to Work

So, you’ve had some time at home with the new baby.  But unfortunately, in the US mothers don’t get much time to bond with baby before its time to get back to work.  Below are my tips to make it a little easier to make that transition.

If possible, do a dry run. Take the kiddo to daycare once or twice before you actually have to go back.  Hopefully by the time you really do have to go back, you’ve reduced the intensity of sobbing and can actually hold an intelligent  conversation. *wink, wink*

Get as much done at night as you can. The new morning routine will probably be pretty hectic so the best thing you can do is leave as little for morning as possible.  Pack up bottles, pumps, your lunch, Baby’s daycare bag, etc., pick out everyone’s clothes, set out breakfast items…anything that can be done a night-do it!  (I really should still be taking this advice!)

If you’ll be pumping, have an idea of what your pumping schedule will be and triple-check that you have all your parts.  Maybe even buy a couple extra set or two to have at work just in case.  My first day back I hadn’t gotten in touch with the lady who had the key to the Mommy Room so I ended up almost literally bursting and had to resort to using a conference room (with windows-eek!) when I finally couldn’t wait anymore.

Don’t feel bad calling to check on little one a couple times while you’re still getting used to it. Your daycare provider has seen lots of moms say good-bye to their little munchkins for the first time.  They will be more than happy to assure you that everything is fine and make sure you feel comfortable with Baby in her care.

Enlist Daddy to be your housework helper for awhile. I know that when I was having a hard time with leaving Brooke at school, it helped me immensely that Keith did the bulk of the housework so I could spend time nursing & cuddling before it was time to put Brooke to bed.

Know that it will get better. Before you know it, your kiddo will run off before you can even say good-bye.

Mommies who have been there, done that – any other advice you’d like to share?

This post is linked to Working Mommy Wednesday.