My last week.

So this was my last week of maternity leave. I'm sad. I return to work on Monday and my stomach aches at the thought of not being with my cheekaboo all day. We had a full week but we were still able to get in a lot of quiet time together, and those are the moments I'll miss the most.

On Monday I dropped Lauren of with my mom. I wanted to have a practice run of what it would be like when I go back to work to figure out how long our morning waking/dressing/feeding routine would take. I left her at grandmas and headed back home to take a nap. I woke up with a start at around 10 a.m. and the house was eerily quiet. I couldn't stand it for long and was back at my mom's by noon, so much for leaving her for the entire day! We ended up spending the afternoon out shopping...3 generations of Reyes girls hitting the stores. We furnished my mom's house with babysitting essentials including a mini crib (thank you, craigslist!). Lauren snoozed through most of it until she needed to nurse in the IKEA parking lot.

On Tuesday, Lauren and I chilled at home. We just did our usual stuff. I took a suggestion from RookieMoms.com and put together a "Day In the Life" collection of photos to record the sometimes mundane events of a usual day...the kind of stuff I'll be missing when I'm back to work. I'll post those photos later.

Wednesday again, we spent at home. Peter came home early and we watched the first game of the World Series. Lauren again had to wear her Red Sox Onesie for luck and guess what? They won!

Do I really have to wear this thing for EVERY game?!

On Thursday, we did another dry run, this time with Grandma # 2. In order to keep my mind of missing Lauren I took advantage of a free day and packed all my errands into 8 hours. I got a flu shot, went to Davis to take care of some things at work (benefits, parking, etc.), and did some grocery shopping. I was fine until 3 p.m. when the thought hit me "Lauren's probably wondering where her mommy is..." and I burst into tears in the Target parking lot. Working mom guilt was with me the rest of the afternoon. Is she going to be mad at me? What am I going to miss while I'm gone? Is she going to be sad? I resisted the temptation to pick her up early and stayed away until 6 PM. Turns out she was fine! She didn't hate me and when I whisked her away to nurse her in the guest room, I didn't let her go until she fell asleep.

Friday was a busy day. We had lunch with Auntie Sarah at a sushi restaurant (she slept though the whole noisy lunch hour) and went to Wheatland to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm. We dressed her in her pumpkin outfit and she was a hit with almost everyone that saw her. "Look at the Baby Pumpkin!" little kids said as we walked past. Later that evening the Werners came to visit and we enjoyed some pies (Pizza and Apple Pie from Bishop's).

The weeks almost over and it's gone by way too fast. We're headed to Novato now to spend some time with my brother and his family. Tomorrow, they will babysit while Peter and I head out to Sonoma for a Pinot Noir event where they will be pouring their wines for about a thousand attendees. I haven't been out in a long time and Peter insisted that I go and enjoy myself. I'll try, but I have to remember to bring my pump!

To sleep, perchance to dream...

Tonight, for the first time in her short but eventful life, Lauren fell asleep ON HER OWN! It may just be a one of, and it may only last an hour (we didn't swaddle her so she's probably going to wake herself up with her flailing arms) but it's a step in the right direction. We gave her a bath, and as soon as she was dressed in her jammies, Peter laid her down in her crib, wound up (winded up?) her mobile and turned down the lights. 10 minutes later, VOILA!!!

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing sweeter than watching her eyelids flutter as she drifts off to dreamland while nursing in my arms, but sometimes mama needs a break.

I will now knock on every piece of wooden furniture in the house (quietly) just in case I jinxed it by celebrating too soon.

Reunion, eh?

Some of my relatives came over to visit this week. They came all the way from Toronto to attend a 40th Wedding Anniversary. It was a reunion of sorts since my mom hadn't seen one of her cousins in about 30 years.

Lauren and cousin Sofia That's me and my mom in the background.

All Dressed Up

Lauren attended her first fancy party, it was her Lolo Jun and Lola Nelia's 40th wedding anniversary. It was her first time wearing a dress and I went all the way across town to the Trumpette store to get these Mary Jane tights. Aren't they cute?

Lolo Jun and Lola Nelia renew their vows

Go Sox!

The Red Sox were facing elimination tonight so Peter had to muster as much good luck as he could and dressed Lauren in her Red Sox "Born Into It--Fan for Life" onesie. The good news is that they won. The bad news is that her daddy is going to make her wear that onesie for every game and he probably won't wash it in between wearings for fear of washing away the good luck.

Vax Day

Lauren got her first round of vaccinations today (polio, DTap/DT, HIB, Hep B). With much skill and experience her pediatrician gave her 5 shots in what seemed like less than 10 seconds. Besides the initial scream from the shock of the needles and about 2 minutes of almost breathless wailing, she didn't cry much at all. I gave her a big hug when it was over to quiet her and she was fine after that. She whimpered a little on the way out of the office and 5 minutes later she was asleep in her carseat. Good girl! So far she hasn't had any reactions but we're watching her temperature closely.

She got 3 injections on one leg and 2 on the other.

Update (7 a.m. Friday): I spoke too soon. Lauren was pretty miserable last night and had to be carried while she slept. She's got a fever right now and is sleeping on Peter's chest. Poor baby (and poor daddy's tired too, he's been up all night).

But what about the parents?

At two months, how are mommy and daddy doing?

Of course, we are sleep deprived, but we are unbelievably lucky to have our family so close by to help us. I don't know what I would do without the Grandmas. Grandma Erlyn (my mom) comes over every other morning to bathe Lauren and lets me take a nap. At least once a week, I drop Lauren off with Grandma Linda (Peter's mom) for a whole afternoon so I can run errands, do some shopping, or just have some time to myself. My sister also spends at least one night a week at my house to be our "night nurse" so I get to have at least one night of uninterrupted sleep.

Healthwise, I'm pretty much back to normal. My incision is still numb which is pretty weird but I've heard is normal and both sets of stitches are healed up. My abs sometimes feel really sore as if I've just had a serious workout. which I don't understand because I haven't done a sit-up in, like, 15 months.

As for emotional health, I didn't experience post partum depression but I did suffer major hormonal mood swings for the first few weeks after delivery. I didn't talk about it much then, but for the first month I had pretty awful anxiety attacks brought on by scary delivery flashbacks. It was so bad that I couldn't sleep alone for a while, even for a nap. My throat would close and I had trouble breathing. Peter had to coach me to breathe a couple of times like he did during labor. Thankfully I haven't had any episodes recently. Oh, and some of the skin discolorations due to pregnancy...I'm still waiting for those to go away.

Peter and I are settling into our routine and our new specialized roles, which I'm afraid will be moot since I'm going back to work soon and we'll have to set up a new routine. I think we've adjusted nicely with our marriage intact and stronger than ever.

Parenthood is the BEST. But what could make it better is if Lauren can sleep through the night...