My little fish

Gwyneth LOVES her bath time.

This girl has no fear of the water.

She loves to splash and splash.

This is my favorite time of the day.

Change is...

...good, I hope!

Going back to work, ugh. When deciding to go back to work it was never a question of if I would go back, but when would be the best time. In order to stay current as a nurse practitioner, I knew taking more than 6 months off would make my return very difficult. The saying, "if you don't use it you lose it" definitely applies to my profession.

When I landed myself in the hospital a month before Gwyn was born, I had to involuntarily resign from my position at the Community Health Clinic. Sadly, they just don't grant medical leave to people who go MIA more than 3 months. This was unfortunate because I really enjoyed my job and working with an under served population. But clearly, Gwyn's safe arrival was the number one priority.

Not having a job to return to, I've had the luxury of being home with Gwyn for longer than the standard 12 weeks (which is not enough maternity leave for anyone in my opinion!!). I've also had the opportunity to search for a new job with a part time/baby friendly schedule. Lucky for me, I might have found exactly that!

New Job:

part time-check

2.5 miles from my house-amazing

4 hour shift-unreal

urgent care-hmmm...

For the last 2 years I've been working in primary care. Urgent care is a far cry from stuffy noses and cholesterol checks. My family practice background will be helpful but I'm going to have to sharpen up some skills that I haven't used in a while. For example, suturing, not something I've done since I was an intern. There just hasn't been a need for it. I'll be learning a lot of new skills too. It is all a bit intimidating, but overall I think it will help me add more tools to my tool box and that is never a bad thing!

I'll be starting the new job in September. We've found a lovely woman who has been running a small home daycare here in Naperville for the last 12 years. She will be watching Gwyn for 4 hours in the afternoon. I know this is going to be a really big change but I'm thrilled to still have my mornings free for play groups and library activities. I'm sure Gwyn will adapt just fine, hopefully I will too!

A night on the town!

Happy Birthday to my Honey....6 days ago! Whoops! Where did the time go??? That's alright, I know Greg will forgive me. This year for Greg's Birthday I planned a special surprise, a date! That's right our first date since Gwyn was born. Actually our first date since I was admitted to the hospital so technically we haven't had a night out in approximately 5 long months!

I was worried about leaving Gwyn with a sitter, but my awesome girlfriend Meghan volunteered to watch our sweet girl and I knew she would be in good hands. I decided to take Greg out to dinner and a movie. We have these great theaters in and around Chicago that serve dinner in the movie theater, perfect for busy parents in a time crunch. So I got us tickets to see Friends with Benefits...hil-arious! A little ronchie to be honest, but fabulously entertaining.

As the movie previews started I found myself more worried about my dear friend Meghan than I was about Gwyneth. I suddenly realized that our daughter is not the easiest to put down for bed and I started to wonder if poor Meghan was in for an evening of screaming. The movie had not even begun and I was already texting the sitter...so cliche. Twenty minutes passed and no word from Meghan. Now I really started to get worried. Greg told me to relax so I put my phone away but continued to check it every minute without being overtly obvious.

Finally news from Meghan. Gwyneth finished her bottle and was fast asleep....woohoo! I could finally relax. It was such an enjoyable night. I know it wasn't my birthday but I may have had more fun than Greg :)

More Grandparents!

The last of the grandparents, including the GREAT grandparents, came to visit Gwyneth a couple weeks ago. We attended an outdoor concert in our central park, ate lots of delicious food, and spent a majority of the time staring at our little sweetie...who is getting quite big :)

Gwyn is a whopping 13 lbs now. She loves her play gym, bumbo seat, and staring at the fan. She has also become very talkative lately. When her daddy comes home from work she laughs and coos and smiles at him. Daddy is already wrapped around her little finger! She is one happy baby and we are very lucky parents!

3 months!

Time is flying by and we are having more fun everyday!

Gwyneth hanging out with the boys at play group.

Gwyn and her buddy Juliana :)

Happy 3 months to my sweet baby girl!

Gwyn Sits!!

Happy 4th of July!

Busy Busy

Our sweet baby is 2, almost 3 months old! Gwyneth is such a happy baby. She is giving us lots of smiles these days and gaining more and more control of her head/neck. She is still up approximately every 3 hours at night but when she wakes up she promptly "gets down to business" (eating) and is happy to go back to sleep. During the day we are still struggling with routine. She does better when we get out of the house, so I've been planning more activities during the day.

I rejoined the gym...hooray!!! The YMCA has a very nice center for kids/babies and they have been looking after Gwyn for roughly 30 minutes while I do a little cardio. Handing over my baby, even for a half an hour, has been incredibly difficult. I go to the Y in the mornings and Gwyn naps through the whole event but it is still really hard for me. I figure it is good preparation for the day I go back to work and have to leave her for hours at a time, pretty sure that will be torture.

We joined a Mom and Baby group. Our hospital puts on a great group one day a week for new moms and babies 0-6 months and it has been an awesome resource. I wasn't really sure what to expect but the group is huge 25+ moms. They do a short educational talk (different topic each week) and then let all the babies socialize. We've met a lot of nice people so far!

Lastly, our library does a Baby Play Date every other week. They sing songs, read short books, and finish up by allowing parents and babies to socialize. Gwyn loves the music! She is also starting to become very fascinated with other babies, it is really cute to watch them all interact.

On the days when there isn't an activity scheduled we like to take a leisure walk in the baby bjorn...puts Gwyn to sleep every time!

The blog has been a bit neglected but as you can see, we've been busy! Now for some 2 month pictures.

Look familiar? These are the bonnet and booties I made in the hospital...they are just now fitting!

Gwyneth loves her bath time.

So in love with this little girl!!!