Work... Work.... Work

Well my summer vacation is over.... sort of. I officially went back to work 2 weeks ago! I go into the office one day a week and work from home 2 other days. Getting out of the house and going to work has proven to be really fun and refreshing. I don't think I could do it more than 1-2 times a week, so my new work schedule is perfect! I feel so lucky and blessed to keep working part time and still getting to care for Jillian!

What gives me the peace of mind to leave all day is Bama comes over and watches Jillian! Thank goodness. My mom is so wonderful to do that (she loves it!) and I know that Jillian is well taken care of!

I was telling Jeff yesterday that I have a new found respect for single moms. I truly don't know how they do it. I plan ahead when I know I'll be gone all day - getting her bottles ready, getting all my pump supplies clean, packing up for work, cooking dinner for that night the day before, making sure Jillian has a days worth of clean clothes, burp cloths, ect. Then I get home that night around 530 and I'm exhausted! (hopefully when Jillian can drop her 5am feeding, I'll feel more rested after a long day) I don't know how single moms do that every single day with NO help at home! I'm so lucky to have Jeff every night.

Ms Jillian has now met everyone Jeff and I work with. I took Jillian to my work a few weeks ago and yesterday I took her up to see everyone at Jeff's firm. It was really fun and everyone was very sweet and complimentary! I meant to snap a few photos of Jeff in his office with Jillian in his lap, but I left the camera in the car. But since she looked just so darn cute yesterday, I took a few photos myself. This was my first time to have her sit up like this, and she did great! She's getting so strong! (yes she has more bows than this one!)

Sip & See

My mom had a Sip & See at her house this past weekend to show off Jillian to her friends. It was really fun and Jillian was a doll! She was pretty fussy that morning, so I was leery this might continue on to the afternoon, but it didn't! She was so good, there were about 20 ladies there, and most of them held her. She was awake and looking around for about 45 minutes, took a 30 minute cat nap and then was awake to say good bye to every one.

She was just so cute Sunday I just couldn't resist taking one million photos. Ok, we actually took 73 (not kidding). Don't worry I wont post them all.

Here's one of my favorites with Sharon holding her.

Jillian, me and Bama (pronounced 'BAM-Ma' we're testing out names right now for my mom. I'm kind of liking Bama.... I have no idea how to spell it or if it'll stick. It's a version of mema, which is what I called my grandma, but with a 'B' since she's a Beakley)

There was carrot cake and Sprinkles Cupcakes.... yay for leftovers :)

Here are 2 of my good friends from High School, Virginia and Ashley. My mom is good friends with both their mom's which is fun! Ashley is 8 months prego and about to have a little girl too!

Catching a cat-nap

The rest are all photos of Jillian after the Sip & See ended. She was so cute & happy we took advantage of it and took some great photos of her!

When my dad got home, he took his turn holding the happy baby too!

Ok mom - that's about enough photos of me!!

Happy 2 Months!

Happy 2 months Jillian!

She's getting more and more fun every single day - we just love her SO much!! She's smiling more and more every day, reacting when we talk to her, and even starting to coo.

Today she went to the Pediatrician and had her 2 month check up - she's doing great!

She weighs 11 pounds 8 oz and she's 22 3/4" long - she's in the 65th percentile with both!

Here we are waiting to the see the Dr.

Here's Jill getting her Roto vaccination. She got her DTap shot next, but no photo of that. She screamed for about 5 seconds until I got a bottle in her mouth and she was happy again :)

We go in next month for 2 more vaccines (we're spacing them out)

Jillian at 2 months:

~ Eats 4 oz seven times during a 24 hour period.

~ Is a good little sleeper, gets to sleep around 10:15 and wakes around 5am to quickly eat, then right back to sleep. I then get her up around 7:15 to start our day. (for all you Babywise lovers, the dream feed for her at 11:30pm did NOT work. She was so zonked she wouldn't eat. I decided not to wake her since she was in such a deep sleep. Hence the 5am feeding. I'm hoping in around 4 weeks she can drop that 5 am feeding)

~ Loves to go on jogs with me and Austin either in the morning or at night

~ Hates tummy time :)

~ Loves when her daddy is the one to put her to bed at night

~ Is beginning to love diaper change time. She's usually just eaten, full & happy, and loves to flash me big smiles

~ Loves being outside, no matter the reason. If she's crying, I can walk her outside and instantly she's happy

~ Loves loves loves paci's

~ Loves car rides (but what baby doesn't?)

~ Is a good little shopper with me. I can take her anywhere - mall, grocery store, Target - and she loves it. Loves to look around, and with a paci in her mouth, we haven't had a melt-down yet :)

~ Loves Baby Bjorn - I got the idea from Pam's blog to put Jillian in it when she's fussy and it works! Most of the time. She loves to be sitting up and close to either me or Jeff when she's upset.

~ She's a pretty good napper. Although being awake and looking around is usually pretty hard for her to stop doing when she needs to nap.

~ LOVES bath time. And I mean loves it! I usually keep her in the bath for 15-20 minutes since she's just so happy!

Playdates!!

A few weeks back Jillian & I went over to Kristen's for a playdate with her twins, Jones and London. The kiddos had no clue this was a playdate for them, but K and I had fun! I sadly haven't seen the three of them in weeks, but we did just get their newborn announcements - adorable!!! Check them out on her blog!

Last week Jillian had a playdate with Leila, Mariam's 12 week old daughter. While we were there, Jillian tried out for the very first time Leila's Play-Mat and LOVED it!! I went out the next day and bought the exact one she had. Here are pictures of her and Leila playing together on the playmat! (Mariam took the pictures on her camera and sent them to me on Picasa, I have no idea how, or if you even can, download pictures from someone's album, but I'm not taking the time to learn :) )

Thursday night Mariam and I went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, just us and the babies, no husbands and it was very fun! Leila was an Angel - hardly made a peep, and our little one..... well she was good until right my dinner came. Gotta love that.

Here's Jillian over the weekend playing with her new toy!

And now she's ready for her nap!

Another one of our favorite things is this jogging stroller. I take Jillian and Austin jogging 3-4 times a week. Here we all are last night going on an evening stroll - Jillian is VERY fussy at night, and this helps calm her.

And here is Ms Jillian today, just chillin' (she's so big!!!)

SMILES!!

Let the smiling begin!! I've been anxiously waiting for Jillian to start flashing social smiles.... and we're getting there!! She's smiled involuntarily since she was 2 weeks old, but she's just starting to really focus on my face and react when I'm really talking sweet to her... and I LOVE it!! I'm constanstly trying to get smiles from her :)

Here she is right before I starting talking sweet to her.

And her reaction!

I'm going to try and catch more smiles with the camera, but it's hard!!