Two Months old!

Today, Elizabeth is eight weeks old! It's hard to believe that it's been two months since she was born. She is more adorable than ever:

 

Some things about my adorable two-month-old:

• She smiles for her daddy more than her mommy, but she's pretty generous with them these days.
• She is starting to become more interested in mirrors.
• She can be quiet for short stretches of time just sitting in her swing or high chair, or even on her back in her crib.
• She's starting to lift herself up on her forearms a bit during tummy time.

She is definitely getting bigger--some of her onesies are pretty darn tight, and her diapers are getting harder to fasten. Tomorrow, Michael and I are both going to work and we will be leaving her with my wonderful and amazing mother-in-law. I'm hoping they'll have a good time together, and I'm hoping the day will go by super fast so I can get back home to my little girl!

First Week Back

I have officially survived my first week back at work after giving birth to my baby girl. I am very, very happy, because look at who I get to spend the weekend with:

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Everyone was really happy to see me back, and though I am completely swamped with work, I am already seeing a light at the end of the tunnel (which is pretty amazing, really). I know some things are going to fall through the cracks, but it's inevitable, and you know what? I forget about it all as soon as I get home. Seriously. Before I had Elizabeth, I would dwell on things that happened at work and vent to Michael about some of the more annoying incidents with students, but now I just come home and bask in the comfort of my little family. Because who can think about work when you're looking at this:

 

Daaaawww!

In other news, the milk situation is interesting. I pump three times a day at work, and I'm only getting 1 & and 1/2 or 2 ounces each time.  The recommended amount to feed a baby of Elizabeth's age is approximately 2 ounces at each feeding, and I have been trying to feed her every two hours--so we've been having to continue supplements, because she generally needs 4 to 5 bottles while I'm at work.  I breastfeed her when I'm at home, but I think she likes the ease of the bottles because she's starting to get fussy at the breast. I'm still taking fenugreek, and I've added blessed thistle because the combination is reported to work better than simply taking one or the other. This weekend is going to be a feeding frenzy--I'm going to feed Elizabeth often and pump after each feeding in an effort to boost my milk supply. I'm also going to wake up to pump throughout the night. It won't be the most restful weekend, but if these things help my pumping output, then I'll feel a lot better. If it doesn't work, I'll just accept that and keep supplementing as needed.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will pay off!

Back to Work

So on Monday, I go back to work.

As I've told several people who have asked how I feel about it, I'd feel like a bad mommy either way. Either I stay home and we lose our ability to build up our savings and make sure that we have some security if something happened, or I go back to work and we have to put her in daycare for a few years and I'll spend most of my days apart from her. It's not a fun choice, and it is a stark reminder that sometimes being a grown-up is hard. We want to secure good things for Elizabeth's future--it is unlikely we'll be able to put her into a private school when the time comes, but we've already started saving for her college fund and we should be able to take her on vacations when she's older (provided we don't find ourselves unexpectedly unemployed, which can happen in academia these days).

My decision might have been different, had I not known a few couples who chose the other alternative and ended up with financial difficulties that forced the parent remaining at home to go back to work anyway. It helps that I don't hate my job--I like it fairly well, and I am lucky to have wonderful coworkers who are extremely supportive and fun to be around. Not everyone has that, and it would be a lot harder to return to an environment that was anything less.

I plan to get a digital photo frame so I can easily keep up-to-date photos of Elizabeth at work with me (we are not good at getting photos printed up, sad to say). On a very cheerful note, Elizabeth is gaining weight nicely now--she came in at 8 lbs 5 oz. this last Thursday, so she's almost back up to her birth weight. It's hard to believe she'll be 6 weeks old on Sunday! We also found a suitable daycare that is ridiculously close to both home and work. I feel better about daycare than I otherwise would because Michael will be able to go home early almost every day, and he'll pick her up. We also aren't putting her in right away--Michael will be spending the next two weeks with her at home, and my amazing and very generous mother-in-law will be coming back and taking care of her during the day for a month after that. This way, we won't be putting Elizabeth into daycare until she is three months old--for some reason, that doesn't seem quite as scary.