3 months old

Oh, how I love this girl. She is so happy and so easy to please. These three months have absolutely flown by. She wants everything in her mouth now, as you can see from her picture. Hands are a constant and anything she holds has to get a try out in there too. She is starting to "talk" and coo. The first time she laughed out loud I literally got teary eyed. I was tickling her belly and she let out the biggest chuckle. All three of us will do anything to make her laugh now. It is like Emily's own personal theater show over here. She accepted being "stretched" to eating every three hours very well and is starting to sleep longer stretches at night. She is usually in bed by 7:45 and wakes up any where between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM. She wakes up at 8:00 AM on the dot. I literally roll over and look at my clock and say "yep, it's 8:00". She wants to sit up all the time and is finally starting to enjoy some toys. She loves staring at the dogs too. Charlotte has been the best big sister and Emily absolutely loves her. I can already tell I'm going to have a serious case of "monkey see, monkey do"!

All work and no play

Work. Back to work. Maternity leave this time around was so much smoother. I'm not sure if it is the background knowledge that comes with having a second child or the sense of family that is already there, but by the end of my maternity leave with Emily I had a fairly good handle on things. We were on a good schedule (eating at 8, 11, 2, 5, 8 EVERY DAY no matter what) and sleeping for about an hour 4 times a day. Emily is still waking up 1 or 2 times a night, but thankfully she goes right back to sleep. I only have one month at school and then we are out for summer, so the mantra for the next four weeks is "I think I can, I think I can". Monica is watching Emily for us until the end of May and Charlotte will continue going to Mrs. D's house. Bryce will keep dropping Charlotte off in the mornings, but I will take Emily to Snellville before I continue on to school, then I will pick both girls up in the afternoon. Bryce often doesn't get home until after 6:00 now. That means my day starts around 4:45 AM when I get ready, feed and dress the baby, and leave by 6. I drive to Monica's and rush into the school building right about the time the bell is ringing. I pump three times while I'm at school, which means I also have to have my classes covered. After school is over, I leave to pick up the girls which is about an hour drive from school to home. Once home, I have to immediately feed the baby (she is usually getting fussy when we walk in the door because she is hungry), then I start dinner. After dinner it is bath time and bed time for ALL of us so we can do it all again tomorrow. I literally have sticky notes all over the place reminding me of everything I need to pack, what needs to be done, and who will be where on what days. I think I can, I think I can!

The ONLY thing that makes it all worth it, is coming home to these sweet faces!

Going back to work

Man, the time goes by so fast.  It feels like Emily has been a part of our family forever, and when I think back to all the craziness of my maternity leave (sickness upon sickness it feels like) it is hard to believe it has only been three months.  Emily is growing so fast, and I have truly loved every single minute I got to spend with her.  She is the happiest baby.  Every morning when I go in to see her she has the biggest smile on her face and coos and giggles even during her diaper changes.  She is a great eater and likes all sorts of activity.  Spending time with her has been wonderful.  I usually kept Charlotte home with me one or two days a week and there is nothing better than a day at home spent with my two sweet girls.  I feel so fortunate that I was able to be here with them.....they are only little once!

Alas, my 60 work days is up.  I must return to work tomorrow.  Bryce's Mom is going to watch Emily for the last four weeks of school.  I am really nervous about how my students will receive me.  Spring fever is sure to be in full swing and I'm sure some of them will need to show off now that I'm back.  I had to start getting ready a full day in advance AND make a list of things to take with me.  I have to pump three times at work, leave three full bottles with Monica, pack breakfast and lunch for me....plus LOTS of water, and my regular work gear (purse, laptop, etc.).  So, lots of prayers for tomorrow.  I am trying really hard to be positive, but man I'm going to miss that girl!  There are only four weeks left until summer!  I can do this!

Year 3 of swim class

This is the third year that Charlotte has taken swim class.  This is the first session that the parents don't get in the pool with this kids and Charlotte has done GREAT.  It just so happened that it was a class full of all girls, and the giggles from across the aquatic center had me laughing out loud.  Charlotte absolutely loves the water and talks about swimming all week long.  She is floating on a noodle and kickboarding all by herself now!  She can also climb out of the pool unassisted.   I hope we will have a swimmer soon!

Sweet Baby Girls

Emily and I went to visit Nina and new baby Braylee.  Emily is such an adaptable baby, she made the trip to Douglasville without a fuss and even managed to take a nap while we were visiting.  Seeing these two sweet baby girls together makes me feel so blessed!

Easter

Easter was twice as much fun with two sweet girls this year:

 Having fun with our baskets:

 The Easter Bunny brought Charlotte a "hopper".  Get it?!

 That tricky bunny!

Easter weekend was absolutely beautiful, so of course the swimming pool saw some action at Grandma and Grandpa Fulcher's:

 Charlotte and cousin Kaig on a wet and wild egg hunt:

Spring Break

Ahhh.....spring break!  I had a whole new reason to look forward to spring break this year, an extra pair of hands!  Spring break this year was wonderful.  Our typical schedule during the work week has Bryce out of the house by 6:30 AM and not coming back home until around 6:00 PM so just being able to spend time with another adult and not feel like neither girl was getting full attention was such a relief.  Plus, I didn't have to cook dinner all week!  Bryce loves to cook but for me it just feels like another chore-I think that has been one of the hardest adjustments of his new job.  We literally felt so free this week.  We packed it all in: shopping, walks in the park, jaunts to the frozen yogurt place, even haircuts!  All Spring Break did for me was make me long for summer!

Pictures of the week: