A Day in My Life - Maternity Leave Edition

As I am writing this, I am back to work, boo hoo!  But I wanted to show you a glimpse of my life on maternity leave.  Eventually I will also do a day in my life - Back to Work edition, so that I can compare the two!  So here it goes!

It is Tuesday, September 17th.

I hear Zack starting to stir, darn he didn't sleep through the night.
I get out of bed at 5:27am to feed him.  Usually he's been sleeping til 6:45-7, but I guess he's hungry early.  I breastfeed him, but he's awake and wants to play, so we hang out in bed for a bit.  He finally gets sleepy again, and we are back in bed at 6:27am.
7:30am I hear the patter of feet, my 3 year old, Kaitlyn is awake. Zack is still sleeping so I get some cuddle time with my girl.  The hubs gets up and gets ready for work. I get Kaitlyn dressed while Andrew gets her lunch together.
8-8:15am Andrew and Kaitlyn leave for school.  Since on maternity leave, Andrew has been the one taking and picking up Kaitlyn from school. It's been so nice! But since I'll be going back soon, I agree to pick up Kaitlyn today, so I can slowly get back into my routine.  (Kaitlyn's school is 6 minutes from my work, so I am usually in charge of pick up/drop off. Right now, Andrew has to back track to get to work after taking Kaitlyn)
8:23am- It's just me and my boy. He wakes up and I change him and feed him.
8:41-8:51am He's done and I put him in his swing so I can pump.  I've been pumping once a day in the morning since Zackary was 4 weeks old to build up my stash for when I go back to work. I get a good amount!

3 ounces, not too bad!

My stash

9:00am Breakfast time for me, I make coffee and have waffles. Zack is done with the swing, so I put him on his boppy for a change of scenery.

Chilaxin'

Waffles and watching Kelly & Michael, with Zack chilling on his boppy

Coffee in my Minnie cup

I love Kelly & Michael!  Still miss Regis, but I think Michael is a great co-host, he's pretty funny and he and Kelly have great chemistry.  

9:20am Zack is starting to get tired, so I nurse him to sleep.
9:38am Sleeping Baby

Sweet baby, getting too big for his bassinet!

This is my "me" time, while Zack sleeps.  I catch up on Facebook, check the work email and start some laundry.
11:00am Zack wakes up.  I change and feed him.

Zack's Faux-hawk

We hang out while I fold laundry and clean out his nursery.  I have a ton of hand me down clothes, so I organize those. 

Lots o' Piles

Getting that head up!

Playmat Time!

Zack's had enough play time!  He's down for another nap at 1:28pm.
My stomach is growling so I heat up some leftovers for lunch.

Mmmm Pizza

1:45pm I finish the laundry and decide to surf the TV to see what's on TV.....whoops I get sucked into New Moon! I really love all of the Twilight books, but man are the movies cheesy or what?  Still haven't seen the last one yet, I need to get on that, Stat!
3pm Zack is up and we do....you guessed it, a diaper change and eat!  We have some cuddle time before we have to pick up Kaitlyn.

Cuddle time!

4:15pm We leave to pick up Kaitlyn from school and are home at 5:20pm.

Going home

 It's a nice evening out, the evenings are finally starting to cool down a bit, so we play outside.  Kaitlyn gets on her tricycle and I put Zack in the stroller laying down.  I work with Kaitlyn on trying to pedal the bike by herself, and she actually gets it!  She pedals it a little by herself, she is so excited and I am so proud of her!

Riding her trike!

Hanging outside in the stroller

5:40pm We head back inside, so I can get dinner ready.  We are having marinated teriyaki chicken with pasta.  Simple, but yummy!  I put the chicken in the oven, and daddy gets home about 6:00pm.  We go outside again to show Daddy how Kaitlyn can ride her tricycle now! 
6:30pm Dinner is on the table

Dinner!

Eating Dinner

7:00pm All finished with dinner, I clean up the kitchen and Daddy plays with Kaitlyn.  They play with her castle and her new Snow White figurines she got for her birthday. I feed Zack and play with them afterwards.
7:40pm We start the bedtime routine.  Zack gets a bath tonight, Kaitlyn brushes her teeth and gets in her jammies.We watch Snow White for a little before she goes to bed with Daddy.
8-8:30pm I nurse and cuddle Zack, while he falls asleep nursing on me. 
8:50pm Zack in bed
9:00pm Andrew comes out of Kaitlyn's room, and we catch up on some shows together, and catch up together on our day.
10pm Shower and head to bed
Lights out at 10:30pm.

I'm pretty sure Zack slept through the night this night, Wahoo!
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our life! :)  Nothing too special, but it's ours!

Wordless Wednesday

Been MIA for a little while, sorry about that!  With being back to work full time, I haven't had the time to  blog much, but I do have some posts in the works!

It's my first time linking up with a WW, linking up with Three in Three today!
Thought it would be fun to share this lovely collage!!!! :)  Happy Hump and Bump day!!!! Can't believe my baby is already 3.5 months old!  sniff sniff......

Kaitlyn Turns 3!

Happy happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl, Kaitlyn Rose!  She turned 3 this past weekend, and we had a great weekend celebrating HER!!

On Friday, we brought cupcakes into her classroom for everyone, and she wore her birthday shirt, and of course a tutu.

Cupcakes for her classmates!

One of her teachers even got her a present, awww!  A baby and a stroller.  Kaitlyn named her "muffin".  I'm pretty sure Kaitlyn is the teacher's pet ;)

On Saturday, her actual birthday, I got last minute tickets to go see Disney on Ice, Princess and Heroes. She loved it!  I got us the cheap seats, and they were actually really good!  We weren't close by any means, but we didn't have anyone on either side of us, so we had plenty of room to spread out.  And Kaitlyn needed her room, because she was up and down the whole time, dancing and singing.  The first part was 45 minutes, and then there was a 20 minute intermission. The second part was about 30 minutes.  It was just long enough to keep her attention, but the intermission was great because we got up to run around and have a potty break.

The Little Mermaid

Goofing around

Kaitlyn and her souvenir Ariel snow cone cup

Me and my girl

Sunday we had her birthday party at the park.  It was "Under the Sea" themed with the Little Mermaid.  We had it earlier in the day so it wouldn't be too hot, and so we would miss the normal afternoon Florida storms. Not only was there a playground, but they also had a splash park.  Kaitlyn had a blast, and was tuckered out by the time she got home!

The mermaid cake - my first time using fondant

Top left going clockwise: The cake, her little mermaid vinylmations, Ariel chilling, sand art, presents & cupcakes

Birthday girl opening her presents

Just before singing happy birthday!

Kaitlyn, happy birthday sweetheart.  You are such a joy in our life.  You are kind and so smart, you amaze me daily.  You're very shy when you meet new people, just like your mama.  But boy when you come out of your shell, there's no stopping you :) (Also just like your mama)  You can dance like nobody's business, I can't even do some of the moves you do!  You already have a wonderful, on pitch, singing voice (you definitely DON'T get that from me, but from your daddy) and I love hearing you sing all the time.  I love watching you grow and learn new things.  You just learned how to ride your tricycle ("That's because I'm THREE now!" You told me)

XOXOXOXOXOXO, Mommy

Birthday Weekend Recap - The Big One - Final Part 4

Ok, I think I dragged this birthday weekend out long enough eh?  Well it's my birthday and I'll do want I want!  :)  Here is the final day, Monday, the day we left.  Catch up on part 1, 2, and 3.

It was another beautiful day here on Singer Island.  We were truly lucky with such nice weather this whole weekend!!  We were all sad, none of us wanted to go home.  But we had to get in a little bit more beach time before we left!  So we packed up our bags as much as we could.  And headed on down to the beach for one final hurrah.

Last time to wake up to this view!

So sad

I also took this time to collect a bunch of sand and put it in our cooler.  I was planning on using it for Kaitlyn's birthday party, as a favor.  And since it was FREE, score one for me! :)  Andrew and Kaitlyn enjoyed the water some more, and played "jump over the waves".  It was so cute, Kaitlyn kept missing the jump, would either jump too late or too early.

Jumping!

Zack was not feeling the beach this final time.  He was hot and wanted to go!  So we said goodbye to the beach.  We didn't get a chance to go in the Infinity pool yet, so we all quickly went for a dip in this pool.  It was so refreshing and wasn't busy at all, so it was nice to cool down before heading home.

We got back up to our room, checked out and drove home.  We stopped for lunch and luckily both kids passed out again for most of the ride home.

Someone else didn't want to go home

It was a lovely weekend, a really nice resort, we will definitely be going back if we get the chance!  And maybe next time, we might bring some friends!

Birthday Weekend Recap. The Big One - Part 3

So, here is part 1 and part 2.
It's Sunday, my actual birthday!!!

I wake up to this wonderful view, it's another beautiful day on Singer Island!  The hubs goes down and gets us some Birthday Starbucks, yum yum!

A nice way to start my birthday!

And then Kaitlyn joins me on the patio to give me my presents!  I got two sets of Gator earrings and a new Gator tervis tumbler mug, nice!

Love my presents!!

And then Kaitlyn picked out her gift for me, a little stuffed monkey, which she named "Coozy".  She told me she picked him out because he has purple eyes and ears, and purple is my favorite color! Awww! :)  I didn't see much of Coozy the birthday monkey after that.  I think he became Kaitlyn's birthday monkey, teehee.

Kaitlyn and Coozy!

Today was going to be pool day!  So we all got dressed!

Ready for the pool - with someone photobombing ;-)

Someone was having their own play time

Had to get in on the action of the picture in front of the mirror.

We got to the pool and thankfully, no rain clouds today!  I found a spot in the shade for Zackary and I, and Kaitlyn and Andrew hit the pool.

Hanging on the lounger with mommy.

Soon though, the shade started leaving our spot (darn you sun!) and it was getting pretty crowded.  I knew Zack was going to want to eat soon, so I moved us to a row of lounger chairs all the way in the back, that was shaded, and their was nobody their.

While Zack was feeding, Kaitlyn was finally brave enough to go down the water slide with Daddy!!  And soon after, Zack fell asleep, and I got to go down the slide with Kaitlyn too!  I don't remember the last time I was on a water slide, it was fun!  And Kaitlyn was having a ball!  

Getting ready to slide down!

And here is the video of her first slide!  Listen for right at the end, she says "I got something in my mouth!" Poor girl, now she knows to close her mouth when sliding, she swallowed a bug, whoops!

Soon it was getting to be lunch time.  We checked out the pool food, but nothing really sounded good, so we opted to head back to our room.  I want to say we had the rest of our pizza for lunch?  Maybe? I do know we had an early dinner, Andrew made spaghetti, it was delicious!  Then we went off property to find some ice cream.  There was a shop just down the street, and we all got some ice cream.  Kailtyn got vanilla in a cup, Andrew got cookies and cream in a cone, and I wanted to try something different and got dulce de leche in a cone.  It was good, but was a little too sweet for my liking.  That always happens to me when I decide to step out of the box with my ice cream.  I need to stick with my tried and true flavors that I love! 

After our ice cream, we took a little walk by the other shoppes their and went into a big beach supply store. They had all the nick knacks like t-shirts, mugs, shot glasses, etc.  We were looking for some new swimmies for Kaitlyn because her broke right before we got out of the pool earlier in the day.  But they only had boring plain ones and were WAY expensive.  

We left the store and went back to the resort.  Got the kids in bed and Andrew and I were able to watch Big Brother together!  It was a wonderful birthday!!!

Birthday Weekend Recap, the Big One - Part 2

Playing catch up from last weekend. (One of these days I will actually catch up!!)Read part 1 here.

Saturday we woke up bright and early, well the kids woke us up.  The plan for the day was to hit the beach in the morning, and then the pool in the afternoon after naps.

We had breakfast in our room, bagels and cream cheese.  We ate, got dressed and packed our bajillion things.  Seriously, we had our umbrella, one beach chair, towels, my diaper bag, Kaitlyn's bucket and us. And I had to hold Zack, since we didn't bring the stroller, since it is so hard to maneuver a stroller in the sand.

We got all situated and I fed Zack and he soon fell asleep.

Must be the waves....

I attempted to get a little bit of reading in, but Kaitlyn quickly saw that I was not attached to a baby, and she wanted to go in the water with me.

Almost got to read......

The water was pretty warm, I think they said it was 83 degrees.  Kaitlyn and I enjoyed jumping the waves and making sand castles.  I held her a few times and we went deeper in the water.  But then I saw a school of fish, and started thinking of sharks.....so we didn't go much further then.  I tried to show her the fish in the water, it was pretty clear, but I don't think she saw them.  Andrew and I switched places, and soon after I was back to our umbrella, Zack started to wake up.  I tried feeding him again, but either he didn't like the heat or the saltiness, he started throwing a little fit.  It was getting close to lunch time anyway, so I figured we should head back up to the room.

We had our leftover pizza for lunch, and Kaitlyn and Zack went down for their naps.  Andrew graciously offered to stay in the room to watch the kids so I could head back down to the beach.  I got changed and out that door so quickly, he barely had time to say bye! Hee hee hee.

Ahh, no kids, just me and my book and the beach

I probably got a good hour in, before the hubs texted me that Zack was waking up.  Not too shabby.  I took my time packing up and headed back up to our room.  Once everyone was awake, we got ready to hit the pool.  Kaitlyn loves swimming in Grandma and Nana's pools at home, so she was excited.  Plus, this one had a water slide!   Once we got to the pool though....we saw some storm clouds heading our way.

It does not look good behind me!

Zack could care less, in fact it wasn't so humid, so he was happy.

We knew we didn't have much time left, so we Andrew and Kaitlyn quickly got in the pool.  

See those two bobbing heads? They belong to me! :)

They checked out the water slide, and Kaitlyn was excited to go on it.  They walked up the steps to the slide, but then she chickened out.  She wasn't quite ready for it yet.

Pretty soon after that, the lightening and thunder was coming, so they were closing the pool, which meant it was time to head back to our room for some dinner! We still had pizza left, so we finished that off.  The storm clouds rolled on out, and we headed back down to the beach for some more shell searching.

Our resort from the ocean

Showing off their shells!

It was a wonderful evening out, and I brought my ergo, so I carried Zack that way.  Such a nice ending to a nice day.  Up next, my actual BIRTHDAY! :)