We survived the first week!

Yeay, I made it through my first week back from maternity leave! I might even go so far as to say I enjoyed being back at work:) My new schedule is pretty amazing. Tuesday after I picked up the boys we went to Bethel park and played for about an hour. I have now mastered nursing Miller in the sling while simultaneously chasing Marshall around.

He mostly wanted to collect sticks and rocks

Wednesday after work we went to the zoo.

He's kind of obsessed with making this face lately

Chillaxin' in the sling

 Jerad left at about 3:00am on Thursday morning to go to a job in Pasadena. I was a little skeptical that I'd be able to feed all the animals, and get me and 2 babies dressed and out the door in time to be at work at 7am but somehow I was only 6 minutes late. Most days I'm about 10 minutes late so in a way I was early!

My mom picked up the boys when she got off work so she could hang out with them for a few hours.

This morning we all slept in till 7am (HEAVEN). Marshall helped me make some coffee:

 

 Then we played with tractors in the bean sensory box Jerad made him:

He made sure to include Miller in the tractor fun:

Miller is finally at the stage where he's happy to play alone under the activity gym so I'm able to get some house work and blog reading done while Marshall naps

After lunch we headed to the children's museum for a few hours:

flower arranging

I'd call week one a success. Everyone at work was so nice and I had fun and felt productive being there. Every morning I got to savor my coffee and breakfast at my desk *uninterrupted.* I also was able to get caught up on my emails, blog reader, and come up with our budget and savings goals for the year. I thrive on a routine. I feel like I have more energy than I have in months, our house is spotless, and I've even got a jump on making some St Patricks day crafts!

Jerad is on his way home now and should be back before bed time! This weekend we have lots of plans around the house, will inevitably end up at the Children's Museum or Zoo,  and won free $50 tickets to the Rotary Club's crab fest which is always a blast.

Brothers

Well now that I'm back at work I decided to stop being lazy and finally take the 890 pics off of my phone and share a few.Here are all the "brother" pics from the last 3 months:

 

First car trip!

notice the Kleen Kanteen in Miller's lap? Marshall must have "shared" during the ride...

 

 

Marshall really loves Miller. He talks about him and wants to see him as soon as he wakes up. He wants to give him (and take away) his pacifier and toys. He likes to hold his hand while he's nursing. He always asks to hold him. He gives him a million kisses a day. Now that Miller is smiling and cooing Marshall is really into him.

He also does funny/not-so-funny things like pry Miller's eyes open when he's sleeping, steps on him if he's in his path, throws balls at him while yelling "catch," pushes the swing as hard as he can when Miller is sleeping in it, and my biggest pet peeve; walks up to him and screaches in his ear while he's sleeping. So far he hasn't hurt him and I know he isn't being malicious... he's just too young to understand the concept of causing pain and lacks the impulse control to realize that screaming at a sleeping baby isn't the best idea.

For the most part Marshall is gentle and just wants to love on his baby brother. I'm trying to get as many pictures and videos of him being lovey now because I know it won't be too long until Miller is the one obsessed with Marshall and Marshall will be sick of it:) 

Back at work

Today was my first day back at work. Can you believe its been 12 weeks already??? I jumped right back into my normal 10 hour shift (10.5 after lunch).

Last night I had a mini meltdown. I was getting all teared up and contemplating waiting one more day/week/month. I don't think I was really worried about leaving the kids. I've already gone through that with Marshall so I knew what to expect. It was hard with him at first but then I got back into the groove and enjoyed the time I was at work. He was nice and waited until Jerad and I were around to roll over, sit up, crawl, talk and walk for the first times so I never felt like I was missing out.

I think this time around I was mostly worried about how the nanny would handle both of them at the same time... if she'd be able to give them both the attention that they needed.

I decided that the first day was going to be hard no matter how long I waited so I sucked it up and went back. Luckily everything went great. The nanny texted me that everything was going great and they were going to go to the park. Everyone was so sweet to me, I remembered how to do my job, and got to drink a cup of coffee uninterrupted... without having to microwave it 4 times. AND I was able to get caught up on the literally 1001 emails in my inbox and 1000+ unread blogs in my reader.

I had forgotten how awful it is having to pump breastmilk at work. That's how I spend all of my breaks. And how I will be spending all of my breaks for at least the next YEAR. Oh well... at least I have an iPhone and Scramble with Friends this time around:)

I'm changing my schedule from four ten hour shifts, to a ten hour shift on Monday and Thursday, then 7-1:30 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I'll still have 33 hours so I can keep our benefits, but I'll be off early enough on Tuesday and Wednesday to take the kids to the park, Children's Museum, or just be able to make dinner and give baths without being rushed. Then I'm off Fri-Sunday. Its a pretty sweet sauce schedule if you ask me.