The life of a full-time working/nursing mother . . .

I know a lot of people are curious as to how I work full-time and continue to exclusively offer breast milk to Avery. It's no easy feat, let me tell you!! Here is an outline of a typical workday:

1am-3am: Avery wakes up for a feeding (& diaper change)
6am: out of bed, get ready for work
6:30am: wake Avery up to feed & change her (then she goes back to sleep with Daddy)
6:45am: pump before leaving for work (then pack pump and my lunch for the day)
7:10am: out the door on my way into work
7:45am: arrive and "work" or play online and eat breakfast ;-)
9:30am: pump again at work in my office (door shut and locked obviously)
**the whole pumping process takes me about 30 minutes from set-up to clean-up**
11:30am: pump at work again
1:00pm: lunch break - head to daycare to feed Avery (yes, I do this EVERY day)
3:30pm: pump at work again
5:00pm: leave to pick up Avery from daycare
5:45-9pm: Nurse, clean, cook, eat, clean, nurse, baths
9pm: nurse Avery and put her to bed for the night (my favorite nursing session-soft light and sweet sleepy baby in my arms-LOVE IT)
9:15-10:30pm: get bottles ready for the next day, run the dishwasher and get pump set up for the morning; maybe watch a little TV. . .then bed for me finally!

Sound fun?! In case you lost count, that's 4 pumping sessions every day. It's worth it, really, it is. I'll admit that I think about introducing a little formula more often these days, but it is an emotional thing for me. I'm just not ready to do it yet. I'm proud of my success with breastfeeding . . .just wish I weren't so DARN tired!

*I left one thing off the schedule. . .7:45am-COFFEE TIME!! LOL

ZZz Zzz zzz . . .Andrea

A blog about me

So far all my blogs have been about Avery, which they will continue to be, since her existence is FAR more interesting than mine. I thought I'd write a little update about me for a change though.

Where to start. . .I'm the happiest I have ever been. Seriously. I LOVE my life. I feel blessed everyday that I have an amazing husband and a beautiful daughter. We have a wonderful home and we are both employed. Okay truth time, I hate working, everyone knows that. I'm not one of those women who are career driven and want to "have it all." I just want to be a stay at home mommy. It's really all I've ever wanted. I'll get there, I WILL GET THERE. I have to keep telling myself that. This will be its own post eventually I'm sure!

I still love to travel and get out of town every chance I get. My favorite spots to date are (in no particular order): Jamaica, New York, Colorado, Caribbean cruise #2 (#1 sucked). I have high hopes that we can continue to travel now that we are a growing family so our kid(s) can see the world too. Our Colorado trip this month was a good start!!

I'm out of shape. I know I just had a baby 6 months ago so I shouldn't be too worried about it, but I'm not going to be able to get back in shape if I don't get my butt to the gym. I have a solid 10 lbs preferably 15+ lbs to lose to be back to "normal." Since I'm still nursing full time though, finding the time is near impossible. I'm working on making it a priority again (hopefully with the help of my sisters).

I think that should suffice for now. . .lol. If anyone wants to know anything or has any good blog post requests, send them over!!

Love to all,
An

Avery's Kitty

I caught one of our cats Oz seeking attention from Avery (which he often does). Apparently any attention is good attention. . .



PS - Green peas are a BIG hit. Solid foods are so fun!

More Keystone Pics

Here are some pretty pics I got while skiing. I think I'm going to frame some around my house. Thoughts?

PS - I made Avery a batch of homemade sweet potato puree over Xmas break and froze it. I thawed some out and let her try it and she LOVED it. She actually ate the whole portion I gave her. So far she'll eat rice cereal, avocados, bananas, apple sauce, sweet potatoes, and we are still working on the pureed carrots. Sweet potatoes have received the best reaction so far!

Jumparoo

We set up Avery's jumper about a month or so ago and she would sit in it and play with the toys. She never moved though, until Sunday. She has finally figured out that she can stand and jump around in this fun contraption!! It's so cute, just had to share the video. . .

Home Again

Keystone was wonderful. I really think I would move there if the cost of living weren't impossibly high. Avery did wonderful with the long car ride and being away from home for so long. I swear, we have the best baby ever! She's always happy. We didn't take as many pictures as we intended too, in fact we hardly took any at all. Here are a few for you to enjoy and I will add more later.

Keystone Bound!

Well almost. We will leave tomorrow bright and early. Wish us luck as we embark on an 18 hour road trip with a 6 month old! We will have tons of pictures to share when we get back. Ahhh Vacation!!!

Hope everyone had a happy new year. I can't believe it is 2009.

Side note: Avery ate purreed carrots for the first time yesterday and really liked them! Yummy!