#aug is three months

[losingitinjersey]

Everything over here is moving right along and going well!  I love the routine we’ve established now that Erp is at daycare (and thriving!).  

I drop her off anywhere between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., depending on how the night/morning goes.  Then as soon as Aug and I get home, we either head out for a walk or I get my lifts in.  Then it’s shower, breakfast, chores, odds and ends, then relaxing.  I’m thoroughly enjoying this last month of my maternity leave yet also looking forward to creating a new routine and new normal once I’m back working again.

Starting next week the daycare is back up to their normal hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (instead of their reduced hours of 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. due to their staffing shortage) so it’ll be SO WEIRD to have so much extra time without Erp at home.  I know we’ll both adjust to it but I’m not exactly looking forward to it at the moment, though it’ll be crucial once I’m working since I work west coast hours.  

My weight loss efforts have been more lax this month after a positively stellar last three months, which I’m totally okay with.  I feel great about my continued momentum yet while not killing myself to hit a certain number by a certain timeframe.  Though, I would LOVE to see 215 or lower by the week of Christmas, especially since we’ll be having family photos taken with my folks and sister’s fam.  

Since Kevin is working tomorrow, we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday.  While it won’t be a keto meal like I originally planned, I am looking forward to a day off diet then getting right back to it on Saturday.  I’ll be making turkey, mashed potatoes, Kevin’s mom’s stuffing recipe (to die for), brussels sprouts with sweet potatoes and my first attempt ever at making a blueberry pie.  I hate pie so I’m glad I won’t be very tempted to have a lot of it!  

Then, on Saturday, it’ll be time to decorate for Christmas!  Yes, I’m firmly in the can’t-decorate-until-after-Thanksgiving camp.  Though, I won’t be going wild with decorations especially since I never even decorated the house for normal life given the fact that we’re only here for a year.  All the same, I’m looking forward to the slight change in décor cheer :)  

I recently bought six Christmas books and will be wrapping them up and giving them to Erp once a day starting December 1st.  Figure I’ll add a few more each year until we can celebrate the 25 days leading up to Christmas this way.  Looking forward to clearing out all her current books to make way for these new ones so during the month she’ll have a far smaller collection to choose from and they’ll be all the more special.  

Now Aug and I are off to pick up Erp since daycare closes at noon today.  I’m certainly enjoying holidays more as she gets older.  Looking forward to that feeling only increasing as she (and Aug!) becomes more aware and anticipating of it all!  

Happy early Thanksgiving, friends!

[losingitinjersey]

You know how much I like my walks and how great they are for my mental and physical health, but days I skip are straight up LUXURIOUS.  Getting the additional 2.5+ hours back in my day (1.5 hours for the walk plus prep/recovery, shower) add soooo much.  

In the time between daycare drop-off (8 a.m.) and pick-up (2:30 p.m.) of Erp, I was able to... 

Make French Press coffee along with a more complicated breakfast than just eggs

Load / unload / put away three loads of laundry (including stripping a bed and making it)

Get bench press and deadlifts in

Make a salad for lunch

Catch up on Tumblr 

Get all the baby snuggles

Bloggidy blog blog

And I still have an hour left!!

Aug turned three months yesterday and it’s been both the longest and shortest three months of my life!  It feels like she’s always been part of my world and I’m just so gosh darn smitten with this baby!!  

Kevin’s been extra extra stressed lately due to his Step 3 exam coming up in a few weeks.  My husband before tests is my least favorite version of him and I caaaan’t wait for it to be behind him.  Thankfully, this is his last major test for a good bit.  

The only thing I want to accomplish this weekend is managing to take a family selfie that’s good enough to use for holiday cards.  I want to try and order cards in the next 9 days so I can take advantage of the early-bird Shutterfly 50% off code I got in the mail (42T2-2RCF-JZWM-WTGCZ5).  

Hope your day has a moment of peace wherever you can find it.  

[losingitinjersey]

Today at Erp’s daycare they had Christmas photos taken!  I dressed her in her only holidayish outfit, red and black checked dress/shirt paired with black leggings and her purple tennis shoes (didn’t realize until this morning that nicer shoes might be a good thing to have).  Thanks to the center’s live stream I was able to watch the photographer work with the kids and after using up almost all my 15 daily logins I was actually able to pop on at the right time to watch Erp’s session!  While she wasn’t nearly as obedient as the older kids who followed instructions, she wasn’t completely disobedient either!  Who knows if he was able to get a smile out of her but I’m excited to see the results!  Though, I’m sure we’ll be asked to pay for these?  All they told us was that Christmas photos were taking place today.  We’ll find out! 

@runthemileyourein brought up a good point today about gifts for daycare teachers.  What’s appropriate?  Since it seems like most of the teachers work with most of the kids, I don’t want to get something for EVERYONE but I also don’t know if it’s appropriate to play favorites?  There are two specific teachers I want to get something for.  I’m thinking gift cards or cash?  Is $50 per person a good amount?  Either Starbucks or Amazon, both evil corporations but oh so convenient.  What would you want?  

After four and a half days of having Erp at home (after six days the week prior due to her fever), I was very ready for daycare to open back up yesterday. Remember how upset I was when I first started taking her there last month?  So glad both of us have adjusted so well :)

As mentioned, this past Friday was our Thanksgiving celebration and while I asked Kevin to help run childcare offense, I forgot that him working a night shift the day before meant he’d be sleeping all day.  I started cooking at 7 a.m. and was solo straight up until we sat down to eat around 4ish.  Long long day. But so good!  I love the time management of cooking and how cleaning up in-between dishes gives an extra boost of accomplishment and energy to tackle the next recipe.  Love caring for my family through these acts of service.  

On Saturday I was able to take advantage of Erp’s nap time to Christmatize the house!  Didn’t go overboard and I feel good about the level of cheer sprinkled about.  While I wish we had a tree, it doesn’t make sense to do one this year given the fact that there’s no good place for it to reside and that we won’t be home for Christmas anyway.  My biggest sadness is that we don’t have a mantel so I can’t hang our customized family stockings that my entire extended family has.  Aug’s stocking is being made as we speak/type/read!  

As I spend more time sitting holding Aug, Saki has been eager to also take advantage of my lap which has made for some precarious situations.  I find myself wanting to get a desk that, like, extends up and over so I can type on a sturdy platform while still giving my lap to my babes.  Once my maternity leave ends (in 17 days!!!!) I’ll need to figure out a good system.  Maybe it’s time to overhaul my office again, making it bebe friendly.  

Things to do: 

Christmas Cards:  I got them ordered!  If only that was all to be done.  Now I’m waiting for stationary to arrive so I can get our holiday update letter printed. Though, I think I’m going to take it to like a FedEx/Kinkos to be printed so I don’t waste all our printer ink.  I like to write something customized on each person’s card so that takes time since I have 130 people on my mailing list.  Hoping to crank this out before the end of the week.  

Thank You Letters:  Before I start work back up I reaaalllyy need to finish writing the thank you letters for the gifts we got for Aug four+ months ago.  At least this will be done before 6+ months like I did for Erp?  And 11+ months like I did for my wedding?  Sensing a pattern here?  Improvement!!

Finish Christmas Shopping:  Which I was planning to do today, but here I am typing up a blog post instead.  Whoops. Every year I make individualized calendars for each family (my parents, Kevin’s parents, my sister and Kevin’s siblings) so I need to get on that.  I expect the rest of the gifts to be photo presents which takes a lot longer than clicking purchase on a website.  But that’s all my mom and MIL have expressed interest in so that’s what I’ll do! 

Wrap Presents:  Self explanatory :)

What I’m Watching:  

Just finished Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop.  I didn’t watch the anime so I’m not biased for or against the series, but I really liked it.  I thought it was beautifully made and I enjoyed the characters, storyline, and definitely the music.  I think I’ll next watch the anime so this might completely change my opinion of the live-action version but for now, I’m very glad to have watched it.  

What I’m Listening To:  

Dave Brubeck Pandora station.  

[losingitinjersey]

It’s amazing what a walk outside can do for one’s soul.  Especially on such a beautiful warm fall day!  

That fountain pictured in photo two?  It hasn’t been on since we first moved here back in April!  Such a pleasant surprise to find at the end of our walk today.  

I finished The Stand and can finally consider myself a true Stephen King fan despite already being over halfway through his entire body of work.  Pretty impressive (to me) that I was able to start and finish this 48 hour novel in about a month and a half.  Love how motivating listening to books on walks is.  Makes me want to keep getting outside just so I can learn what happens next!  Next up is The Talisman thanks to a recommendation from @davidbowietoldme!  

Erp is currently on the FOURTH hour of her nap today.  This is her third day in a row of either a three or four hour nap.  Thankfully, she’s doing much better than the last few days!  Gotta love the healing power of sleep.  Here’s hoping she can make it the rest of the day and tomorrow without a fever so she can go back to daycare on Friday giving her some socializing for the week.  

I just realized today that Thanksgiving is next week?!  That definitely snuck up.  Not that we’re doing anything special for it, but still.  I should at least stock up on champagne.  How early is too early to buy a turkey?  

Also, just entered into my final month of maternity leave.  It’s been sooooo nice having such a long time off.  Every company should give at least 18 weeks off, pregnant or not!  I’m not even dreading going back?!  Weird.  Though, I bet it’s because going back means I still get to stay at home :) Work from home for life!  

[losingitinjersey]

I KNOW daycare is worth it and Erp is blossoming socially but my poor babe is sick again :( Kevin keeps reminding me that kids get between 6 to 12 colds a year and all of this is normal.  But, after not experiencing any sickness in close to two years due to our carefully crafted bubble of safety during this germy pandemic, it’s hard.  

She had a fever up to 105 on Sunday which prompted Kevin to tell me what to do if she has a febrile seizure.  I love/hate having a medical professional spouse.  I shot a message to the pediatrician and have been dosing her round the clock with Tylenol and Ibuprofen.  Thankfully her fever has been much better the last two days but it’s still lingering.  Due to the daycare’s protocol of not having her attend until she’s been 48 hour fever free without medication, we might be missing the entire week, again.  Two weeks missed in only one month of attending - sheesh. 

As she hasn’t been feeling great, Erp’s been extra cuddly which I’ve positively loved (despite hating that it’s from her not feeling well).  As someone who rarely has the TV on we’ve had it on a lot the last few days watching all the kid shows (mostly Bubble Guppies with a few episodes of Blippi and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood thrown in for good measure).  The first morning of her sickness we did get through half of Labyrinth which was extra special since she’s never watched a movie with me before.  

Since we’ve been on the couch a lot that’s meant a lot of lap sharing so the girls have been next to each other more than normal.  I looked down one moment and saw they were holding each others hands!!!?!?  My heart positively burst and I loved that they did this unprompted!  Caaaaaan’t wait for more sister moments!

Another bright spot in all of this was the Tumblr Zoom chat Sunday night with @lizloveslifexo, @theunstuffedpepper and @beenjen .  HUGE thanks to @lizloveslifexo for coordinating!  It was SO awesome to hang out with these girls, for the first time with all of them, yet feel like we’ve known each other for years.  BECAUSE WE HAVE!  Such a weird thing to connect with people who know you intimately thanks to us all pouring our hearts out on this site.  Love this community and the friendships we’ve built!  Looking forward to the next hangout when hopefully @davidbowietoldme and @nycnomad can join as well as anyone else who’s interested!  (And yes, I’m using the same screenshot you’ve already seen three times because I’m late to post about this, but I chose THIS picture because @theunstuffedpepper‘s expression makes me ridiculously happy :) Please zoom in and enjoy it with me!)