Mirror Mommy and Wall Daddy

About a week ago, Jemma discovered Tom's picture hanging on our living room wall. She stared and stared and then she cooed and "talked" to the picture for at least 10 minutes. Then she became quite perplexed when the picture didn't talk back! She also loves to look in the mirror, but instead of looking at herself, she looks at me! This is how Jemma has come to have a "wall daddy" and "mirror mommy." We are highly amused by this recent development, and wanted to share!

My growing baby and her new bed

I do not have an exact weight, but I'm guessing Jemma is around 15 or 16 lbs. I weighed her by stepping onto our scale, and it increased by over 16lbs!! Of course, she had clothes and diaper on, so not entirely accurate, but close enough for me to say she has outgrown her bassinet...which made me sad because I love her bassinet! I was bumming at the thought of having to get up, pad down the hall, pick her up, feed her, get her back to sleep, and then go back to bed. Initially this was the routine we had because I could not figure out how to nurse her on my side, and I was soooooo tired all the time, even when we were only getting up 1 time a night to nurse. About a month or so ago, I figured out how to feed her on my side, and since then I have been getting such good sleep - and so has she. I think because she doesn't really wake up as much, so she goes right back to sleep after nursing.

So I'm sure you can imagine why I was not happy at the thought of losing this wonderful routine we had developed...especially since I just started back to work and I really need my sleep!! I decided to invest in something else to keep by our bed because her crib is just too big. It would not fit. We'd have to take our bed out of the room for it to fit, and that would completely defeat the whole point!! I am so excited to introduce our new Arm's Reach Mini Convertible Co-sleeper:

This thing is so cool! It can bump right up next your the bed (like I have it shown), it can be a free standing bassinet, and it is also a little playard too! And it will support her up to 30lbs on the top and 50lbs on the bottom...so it will last a long time and be great for traveling, too!!!

So what became of our old bassinet? Well, it converts into a infant/toddler chair, which is now sitting in our living room. And for your enjoyment, here are some pictures of Miss Jemma using it as a chair :) She is just so adorable.

Just plain cute

My sweet little Jemma on Mother's Day. Sorry it's late, but she's still cute.

Bad Blogger Mommy

I think I have been a bad blogger...I know, I know, it's been a long time since I've posted. Sorry. I'll try not to let that happen again. Try is the key word in that sentence. Ha ha.

Life is good. I started back to work full time (well, 4 days a week) last week. The 2 weeks prior I had worked 2 days each. I think that was a good decision for me. I had no idea how hard it would be to leave Jemma. Before she was born, I naively thought I would easily go back to work, no problems, no worries. HA. That was the furthest thing from the truth...and Jemma is even staying with family! She's with my mom Mon, Wed, Thurs, and my mother-in-law Tues, which I am so grateful for. It's hard enough to leave her with people I know! It is so hard to trust someone else with your child. I had no idea. I mean, I know she's fine with them, but it's just the little things I think of...do they hold her hand when she's upset or rub her head to help her go down for her nap? Do they know she likes something to hug when she naps? I could go on and on. I'm sure you all know what I mean. (And to my lovely babysitters, I mean no disrespect. You are doing a great job!! I'll stop worrying eventually!!!) It's getting better, though, at least for me. Jemma has never had a problem to begin with - just Mommy. On the plus side, I am happy to be back at work, as hard as it was initially. I truly love my job, and I enjoy what I do. I don't think I will ever be a completely stay at home mom, but I do hope to cut my hours back somewhat in the future...like maybe in a year or 2. Or at the very least when we have another kiddo.

Speaking of the little angel, she is doing awesome. She is growing like a weed and is just such a joy. Tom and I love her to pieces. She is so much fun. It's wonderful to watch her little personality emerge. She's started cooing and "talking" to everything that catches her interest, and she is almost rolling now, but she has so far only done it on accident. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful little angel for a daughter!!