Are we sleeping through the night?

In one word... NO.

And not to discredit Mr. Ian's efforts, it could be worse, but he does generally get up 1-2 times a night. That means if he goes down at like 10 he is up between 1 or 2 and then again at 5ish.  Every once in awhile he will surprise me and sleep for like 6-7 hours but that's not the norm. If I get a block of 4 hours of sleep (versus 3) in a row it's a miracle, but honestly I surprise myself at how well I do on such little sleep.

When he gets up at 5ish he still goes right back to bed after sucking down a bottle, and wants to keep sleeping until at least 8 so most morning I literally have to go wake him to get his dressed at over to daycare. We are still working on the whole schedule thing, and believe me when it comes to that Ian is boss.

John has somehow convinced himself that it's not his job to wake up in the middle of the night. He always justifies it by saying "Do you want me to pump for you in the night too?"  (he thinks I have to get up regardless so why should be both get up)Despite the fact that I've mentioned 20x now that I don't have to pump in the middle of the night. So, I'm really hoping we start getting through the night here soon. Mama needs her sleep, and a weekend retreat to a spa, and probably some under-eye concealer.

We're alive!

Well, it's been over a month since my last post. Coincidentally my last post was just 3 days prior to me returning to work. So I think it's pretty obvious that my "free-time" is non-existent at this point. Frankly I've always been one of those people who prefers having too much on my plate both figuratively and literally, so it's all good...I'm learning to juggle everything and settling into a nice new life as a mom and working woman. Tending to be a bit verbose, I'm not the best at the whole executive summary, but I'll do my best to quickly hit on the highlights from the past month+ in the McG household...

Daycare. This was more difficult than child birth (milk coming in was still worse though, don't get me started). So the nanny share thing never worked out. We interviewed probably close to 15 people... or at least attempted to... one day we had 2 no-shows in a row (talk about frustrating, as though I enjoy dragging my 3 month old out and spending my time waiting for some twit to show-up to Starbucks), and another day we had 3 in a row that within our introductions I could tell they weren't the right fit (snaggle teeth, tat's to the high heavens, and likely not a diploma from the 5th grade). Yes, I'm judging, but heck I'm trusting you with my baby, I am allowed to be 100% judgmental in this case. And I gotta say It's a pretty unimpressive showing out there of nanny's especially when they want to make the same salary as me. Ridiculous. Anway, we did like one gal who we offered the job to, but she fell threw because an old family friend also offered her a job which she obviously took. Then there was an old granny lady we offer it to as well, but g-ma didn't want 2 babies, so again it didn't work out. Long story short time was a ticking and it was becoming more of a point of frustration rather than solving an issue. So Adria (the other mama) and I decided to move on... on the plus side I did make a new friend (Adria) out of the process and I'm sure we'll get the boys together again soon. So, with very little time before I was due to return to my desk at work I was still without childcare, whoops. As luck may have it the gal across the street (who runs an in-home daycare) called and her daughter offered to nanny for Ian for the summer (at her house... essentially in the daycare) until she has a spot for him in August. PERFECT. Only issue is that she couldn't start until the beginning of May so I had a few weeks gap to fill. Thankfully my mom came to the rescue... she was willing to come to Denver for a few weeks and watch little man. It was a life saver and made my life and transition back to work soooooooo much easier. It was so nice to know for those first few weeks back that he was in the hands of someone I can obviously trust.  And now baby I is across the street in daycare with the daughter Aspen focusing on him until August.

So everyone always asks, how is it going? How is work? I sort of think people are expecting me to breakdown when they ask, so I almost feel bad saying "so far, so good." And honestly it's good. Don't get me wrong I could have gotten very comfortable staying home all day with Ian, but I think it's the right move to be back at work....It is not for everyone but it works for me. I like to think of myself as a good role model of work ethic and family values. Now I'm just learning how to multi-task like never before... it's amazing that you can pump, put on mascara, blow-dry your hair, answer an email on your iphone, and entertain a 4 month old simultaneously.  

What else have we missed? Well John's brother came out for Easter and was able to meet little man, so that was good. Here they are hanging out on Easter (not the best pic, but it's what we have). 

Oh, in the spirit of multi-tasking... I  am having a new love affair with my crockpot... it really helps make dinner easy. I always thought of it as tool to prepare fatty Middle America casseroles, but I was totally off base. For a multi-tasking mama to be able to make pulled chicken for tacos while gone at work it's amazing (I'll share that recipe soon).

What else, what else... well I celebrated my first mother's day which was super exciting, but more to come on that (I think that warrants it's own post, right?)

Upon returning to work (and truthfully prior to and during my maternity leave) I was also the co-chair for a huge design awards event on May 11th put on by IIDA (the International Interior Design Association) a professional organization that I will be President of come July. Feel free to check out the event pictures here. Nothing like essentially planning a wedding and having a baby and going back to work all in a couple month span. Yes, I'm insane and I like it.

I feel like the energizer bunny who will eventually crash, but I'm hoping that happens well into my 70's when I'm poolside with my best friends, cocktail in hand, large sun-hat on, and dripping in jewels... not that we've already planned this or anything. I honestly think the hardest thing about being back at work and having a baby is having to be so scheduled. John and I were the type that decided at 5:30 we were going to happy hour, or a Rockies game, or heck I'd  end up working late and then just go run errands after work... well those days are gone. Now we know who is picking up Ian before we leave the house that morning. It's a juggling act, but the moment I pick up little man and see his sweet little face nothing else seems to matter. I'm pretty sure he gets cuter every day.  He drools like crazy. His eyes are STILL blue! His hair is light brown and blonde (what?!). He started to roll over a little after 3 1/2 months. Smiles and coo's (in fact just yesterday John and I are pretty sure he was speaking in sentences we just haven't translated what he said). He's great, and here's some proof from Easter at our house....

He enjoys hanging with Auntie Jess

He watches the masters

He "allows" Dave Nakon to hold him and Cousin Eddie

He let's Cousin Eddie lick his feet

More photos to come...