Back to Work and Loving It

I'm not going to say it was easy to go back to work after spending every waking moment for three months straight with Blakely, because it wasn't.

I dreaded that moment since the day I had her. I couldn't even IMAGINE that morning and what it would be like. Getting up and seeing her drive away with Tommy was the hardest thing! I cried my entire drive in to work. And once I got to work. And on my lunch break in the bathroom. Oh and on my way to pick her up.

Blakely, Almost 4 Months Old

It's now been a month that I've been back to work and I can honestly say that it was the best decision I could have made. Not only for our family, but really for me and my sanity. I praise all of the SAHM's (and SAHD's!) out there that devote their lives to their children. It's really a demanding job, and a constant, no break kind of job at that. I love my little girl but I also love the break that I get, especially since I enjoy what I do for work. It makes the drive home that much more enjoyable because I get to look forward to seeing her smiling face (or crying, or cranky...). It also helps that with today's technologies, I am able to receive pictures and updates on her as often as I'd like.

I love my baby girl and will do what it takes to keep her healthy, happy, and in the future a successful and contributing part of society!

Motherhood and a Sleepy Baby

I've been meaning to write a blog post for like three months now.. but I find it difficult to pry myself away from little Blakely! Gosh, where do I start?

Bringing Blakely Home

 

Motherhood.. is.. AMAZING. You really can't comprehend the amount of love you have for your child until the day they are born. You carry them for nine months but until you meet them you just have no clue what's about to happen. So much happens in those first few months of life, too, it's crazy. I feel like it was ages ago that she arrived, but she's only 15 weeks old!

First Doctor Appointment (Don't we look tired?!)

For the first 6 weeks or so we spent every day/night caring for her on our couch. Boy were we exhausted! For a while it seemed like she would only sleep in her Rock and Play- and only for 2 or 3 hours at a time, but this was to be expected. When she fell asleep I would place my hand on her chest just to make sure she was breathing. Sometimes this meant being in the most awkward position but at least I knew she was okay!

Sleeping in the Rock and Play

We then graduated to her room. It took about two weeks to get her used to sleeping flat on her back and in her crib. It was a rough two weeks as I slept on the floor in her room and was still waking up every few hours to feed her. By the end of the two weeks I felt comfortable enough to go back to my own bed to sleep and keep a close eye on her via the monitor. We have a monitor that has both video and sound, which I am SO thankful for! If it were just sound I would have been checking on her every five seconds.

Sleeping in Her Crib

Now at 15 weeks she sleeps 10-11 hours straight at night. We put her down around 7-8PM and like clockwork she wakes up around 5-6AM. I'm so thankful for our healthy sleeper!

Sleepy Baby!

 

~Sunny

Dining Room Table Facelift

I decided our dining room table needed a facelift this weekend (I'm kind of over the whole "paint everything black" phase). BB was sleeping and I was itching to work on something other than folding clothes and the ritual weekend chores.

 

We actually got this table one day as it was sitting at the top of my parents driveway for free. We threw it in the back of Tommy's truck and it's been with us ever since.

 

Inspiration for the facelift came from a photo of a kitchen of a house for sale up the street. I've been DYING to try it out. I mean, the table was free to begin with, so why not?

I took out my orbital sander and loaded it with 220 grit sandpaper and sanded the finish down until I achieved the look I was going for. It turned out EXACTLY the way I wanted it to! I had some troubles with the top coat but I think I finally got it to look right. First I wiped on two coats of poly with a sock... it was too streaky so I decided to use spray on poly instead.. nope... now it looked spotted! Also, spraying poly on usually leaves the surface a bit rough, so before the next coats I used steel wool to rub the grit off. Next, I put two very light coats on using a foam brush, and wa-lah! Perfect. At least I know the table is durable, right? :)

~Sunny