What We've Been Up To...

First things first...SWEET BABY CHARLOTTE IS HERE! She joined the party June 27th at 3:41 pm weighing in at 7 lbs 6 oz and 20" long.

She's been here for a little over a month, which will probably explain the lapse in time since I last wrote a blog post. I've been on maternity leave (thank the good Lord) for six weeks and since I do most of my writing while I'm "working" (aka trying to look busy at my desk) I just figured my adoring fans could wait. I kid, I kid.

Things are blissfully wonderful on the home front. Charlotte sleeps about 10 hours a night, never cries, and her poop smells like sunshine and unicorns.

Again... I kid, I kid.

BUT things are pretty darn wonderful. Don't get me wrong, we have some good days and some bad days, but overall things are better than I could have ever imagined. First of all Charlotte is healthy and that was of course the biggest blessing of all. I made it through labor and delivery pretty much in one piece and without too much trauma (although I might not be able to say the same for H). And despite my two uterus (uteri?) and the fact that Charlotte was coming out malpresented (sunny-side up, only happens 5% of the time or something crazy) I managed to squeeze her out the old-fashioned way without a C-section. And plenty of drugs, like God intended.

People warned me I would never sleep again, but even sleep has been more frequent than I anticipated. I averaged a couple of naps a day because I am a firm believer in sleeping when the baby sleeps. Dishes, laundry, and sweeping be damned! She gets a bath at 9, then a bottle, then it's off to sleep until 2 or 2:30. She wakes up, takes another bottle and goes back to sleep until about 5:30. Overall, it's a pretty good schedule for a newborn and we are SO thrilled. My biggest disappointment is that I couldn't breastfeed her. I'm convinced that I did something wrong and I still feel guilty about it, but I figured even the lowly formula was better than letting the kid starve to death.

My 6 weeks of maternity leave flew by and as much as I loved getting to bond with her--I'm incredibly happy to be back at work. First of all, I'm thankful to have a job in this miserable economy, and I missed my coworkers (who are a pretty funny bunch). I also missed getting to leave the house and converse with adults about intelligent things like the upcoming football season, reality television, and stupid email forwards. I guess it makes me a bad mother, but I need the break that work provides. I need stimulation outside of poopy diapers-even if they do smell like unicorns and sunshine. It makes me a better, more patient wife and mother when I return at the end of the work day. And since people and dogs around my house like to eat and enjoy things like air conditioning and cable it is something I can justify. Don't get me wrong-I have the utmost respect for stay-at-home moms because it is seriously hard work. It's just not my cup of tea.

Overall, we are completely smitten with the new addition. She is lovely and perfect and sweet and cute and looks absolutely NOTHING like me! She does have my lips and one dipple like me, but that is the only mark I left on the child after almost 10 months in my belly. Sad, but true. Thankfully H ended up making an adorable little girl!

So...it's back to the grind as we learn to adjust to real life with a baby. So far the transition has been relatively smooth, but my head isn't that far in the sand to know that there will inevitably be rough times ahead. I'm just so happy to have H, Charlotte, Chuck and Lois along for the ride! Now that I'm back at work I will be posting more frequently with insight into our new way of life in the Hysterical District.

TDC

PS-Even with an epidural, the stork concept is WAY better than the actual thing!