working mom.

I'm planning to write a bit about being a working mom, and making that difficult transition back to work, but I did want to share one thing before I delve into the topic.

We were lucky to find an amazing nanny to take care of Henry (we are part of a nanny share with another family who has an adorable 6 month old girl). How do I know she is amazing? Because she sends me pictures like this:

Henry (on the left) at the park on a cold day. Just hanging out in his way too big bear suit, trying to find his hands. I die laughing every time I look at this photo. There is nothing funnier/cuter than a way too bundled up baby.

hi.

just popping by to say hello.

1. i'm back at work.
2. i left my phone at home today.
3. i also left my key fob at home so i had to ring the bell to get into work today, after running up 3 levels of a parking garage.
4. we have moved and life is totally nuts right now, but we have the worlds most supportive family and church congregation and moving was as breezy as it gets. the uhaul was packed and unpacked in about 2 hours. family and friends helped with henry, cleaned our old place, and put away kitchen/linens/set up electronics/closets/beds/cribs in our new place. i feel so lucky to have such a strong support network and to call these amazing people I know my friends and family! we would be in shambles without them.
5. i love henry's chubby cheeks so much i could die.

goodbye and hello.

our house is a disaster right now. boxes everywhere, picture frames lining the baseboards, furniture dissembled...it's moving weekend!! i cannot wait to go from this...

to this.

and now i can start obsessing over how to arrange our house, and where to put the bridge picture and our coke tin lady, and should the couch face the fireplace or just sit next to it, and should we ditch the TV or not, and where is the best place to buy plants in DC?!

hooray for moves. can't wait to share some pictures of our new digs once we get settled.

ps henry is moving from his bassinet next to our bed to a CRIB in his own room. not sure who will have worse separation anxiety - him or me!

last day.

monday was my last day at home with henry before becoming a working mom. i was nursing him during the day, thinking about how much he eats during one feeding and trying to add up in my head how many bottles i will have to prepare for the nanny, and i just started crying. emotional, sobby motherly crying. i couldn't stand the thought of somebody else getting to spend these sweet moments with him, and it made me a little mad to think about it.

i'm trying to stay positive, and to be honest i wonder if i'll like the separation that will make me appreciate every single moment with him while we are together. we will see.

for our last day together, henry woke up at 4am and didn't want to go back to sleep. maybe he knew and wanted to spend all the time he could with me before i went back to work. haha. when i put him down for his morning nap, i slept a glorious sleep and mark took him when he woke up, so it was a lovely morning of snoozing.

we took a quick trip to stock up on things at Target, then back home to start packing and make meals for the week. we had a celebratory dinner at Cafe Rio with some friends, and put Henry to bed early. it was a perfect day.

3 months!

I'm rotten at keeping a journal lately, so this is my record for baby H. 3 months and counting, where does the time go?

Henry, you are 3 months old now. I know this is so cliched, but I cannot believe how fast time has passed. Weren't you just a little newborn in my arms, us trying to figure out how to survive with each other? Now 3 months later, I'm getting ready to return to work and you will go with your new nanny and we will try to figure out how to survive without each other (at least during the day!)

You have grown up so much in the past month, especially in the past week. We are starting to see peeks of your sweet personality, and I'm dying to see more! You always seem to be focused on something, and will intensely stare at something until we distract you away from it. You like to play with your little baby gym, and dad and mom love to sit next to you and watch you try to laugh and grab the little rings above your head. You are so happy in the mornings, kicking your legs and cooing. When we pick you up, you jump up and down on our laps. I like to pretend its because you missed us all night long.

You still aren't sleeping all that great, you wake up 2-3 times a night to eat, but you go right back to sleep sweetly. You still take 3-4 naps during the day.

You are a CHUNK, weighing in at around 15 1/2 pounds now. You are all cheeks, mister, and I'm convinced that is why you don't smile very often. It must be hard for you, poor thing.

You have a terribly sweet smile and are starting to find your laugh, a little bit. It's all inside your mouth, but we're hoping soon you'll open your mouth and let that laugh out!

You found your hands last week! You stuck out your fists in front of you and just stared at them for a few minutes, and then, you started grabbing at toys and holding them right after that! Baby milestone! We were so proud of you! And now you're an old pro at it.

We finally got a bumbo seat and you cannot get enough of it. You sat in it for 30 minutes today.

You scare easily. In the past week I've accidentally made you jump about 5 times. It's so interesting to see how high you jump out of your chair or your seat - you have so much muscle you don't use!

When you are really sad you stick your lower lip out really far for about 5 seconds, and then the tears come. It's so cute, it hurts.

You are just starting to find the range of emotions you can express. You are rarely mad or sad or happy, but mostly just content or bothered. And when you are bothered you give us the cough cry. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. It's pretty cute, too.

They call this next month the personality month. So, let's see what you got for us little Henry. We love you more and more every day.

right now.

home from eating dinner with in-laws + my mom. love them, and feel so spoiled to have family so close.

i hear a mouse in the utility closet. scratch, scratch, scratch. he'll probably cut the hot water supply off or something, just my luck.

baby is sleeping.

eating cold pancakes from this mornings feast.

looking at my sleeping baby, too afraid to move him from his carseat.

looking at sheets for henry's new crib. i made sheets for his bassinet, but i can't imagine finding the time to make sheets for his crib.

making big plans for my last full week at home before i go back to work. so bittersweet. mostly bitter. i've gone through more emotional transitions in the past year than in my entire life. it's completely nuts.

things coming together. sort of.

yes, we found a new apartment.

we also found a nanny for little Hen. a sweet nanny i am in love with, and can't wait for Henry to speak 2 languages! (or one, for that matter)

kind of learning to multi-task: eat lunch, while putting on makeup, bouncing the baby and squeezing his foot to make him smile, google "sleep training" every other hour.

still can't figure out how people get their babies to sleep through the night?? will this happen?

listening to sharon von etten and wishing we could find a babysitter to sit in our house with a sleeping baby on a saturday night while we go to her concert at the Black Cat (impossible).

met up with some colleagues this week, feeling nervous to go back to work, wishing i cared more about my career...can't think about anything else but baby. i wonder if this will change...

and onto the weekend. another jam-packed saturday filled with errands, errands, errands. just setting up and getting ready for our new life! life as working parents with a sweet babe!

here we go again.

if you've seen me in the past few days, you'll have heard this news already (i'm having trouble staying quiet about it): we are moving!

our friends recently moved to utah (boo!! we miss you guys!) and i casually asked them what they were doing with their house, not thinking anything would really come from it. but i stopped by their house a few weeks ago and it just felt so perfect for us. i was holding my breath for weeks, hoping it would work out, and we are signing the lease tomorrow. hoorah!

our friends moved into the house when they had a little boy henry's age, and when they left they had 2 little boys and a brand new baby girl (named Julie!). so now we get to move in with our sweet little boy and watch him grow with plenty of room to crawl around and bump his head on the doors and fill the rooms with laughter. and who knows, maybe see our family grow a little more in the next few years, too!

we move in just a few short weeks. and here are the things we are excited for:

no more basement

huge windows and lots of natural light

henry gets his own room

we get our own room!

hardwood floors -- goodbye carpet

we get to stay on the Hill, and move closer to our favorite sandwich place on the Hill (Mark is no doubt very pleased about this)

backyard patio

bathtub for baby baths (and mama baths)

lots of storage

oh. mah. goodness. is this what heaven feels like?