2011 Wrap Up

I know it's a bit early but since I am starting my vacation today I thought it would be a good time to wrap up the year with a blog post. Thanks to my friend Cheri for giving me the inspiration from her Christmas letter here goes

January:
It was a the start of a rough time for us. We just started getting Gabby to sleep in the crib. But this was also the time when her first round of ear infections started. Mike started his 2nd job at the Ski hill and he was on the race team The Gate Bashers. He as always had a blast. I celebrated my 2nd year at my company.

February:
We were still battling the ear infections but Gabby started sitting up on her own. We started into the world of solid foods and boy was it fun to watch Gabby learn how to eat. Her favorites were Broccoli and Sweet Potatoes. We celebrated Gabby's Baptism with close friends and family at my IL's church where Mike and I were married.

March:
Gabby was able to drop her reflux meds, which was a great thing! We went on a trip up to Giants Ridge for Mike's Ski Challenge State Championship.We also took a trip up Duluth for the Spring Fling trip.

April:
End of the year for the Ski Season and as always we had the Buck Hill group over for an end of the year party. I had my annual Scrap for the Cure event with my family and friends and it was a lot of fun! We even had a garage sale to raise money for the Rainie's Bugs Race for the Cure Team. We did pretty good despite the cold/rainy/snowy weather and brought in about $300 or $400 dollars. Mike celebrated his 8th year at his job.

May:
It's was time for the Annual Race for the Cure again. I was pretty excited about it since it was the first year that Gabby was going to get to go. However it didn't quite work out since she ended up with Pink Eye and an ear infection. So we dropped off the stuff for the team, took a few pictures and spent Mothers' day at home cuddling and playing.  We took a family vacation up to Two Harbors and Duluth just the three of us. We had an awesome time hiking in Gooseberry Falls. They even put up a bench where Mike proposed to me. It was fun to sit there and hang out. We also had to make a trip to the ENT for Gabby's ears since her ear infections were still a problem.

June:Gabby had to have tubes put it. It was harder on me than it was on her and it didn't take long. But man did it sure help. She was sleeping better not long after that and not a crabby Gabby anymore. I am so glad we decided to do it. We had a family trip to the Lynx Basketball game and then went out to dinner afterwards for Fathers Day. We also had our annual trip to Breezy Point and we were able to enjoy our new timeshare up there. It was nice to have the extra space and extra dishes. Gabby didn't sleep the greatest, but she also had pinkeye.

July:Celebrated Mike's 31st birthday and had a good time up at the lake with the entire Epp family. Had a great visit from my cousin Jenny when she moved her brother up here from FL. We hadn't seen Jen in a long time and it was so nice to see her. We are very excited to have Jeremy back in the state!! And can't wait until Jen can move up here too :) we will keep trying.  And the most important milestone is that Gabby took her first steps!!

August:
We went on our first camping trip as a family. It rained most of the time and we had a bit of a monsoon right outside our tent, but Gabby did pretty well sleeping in a tent. Celebrated the little peanuts First Birthday! And my cousin Ali bugs first birthday as well. It was a fun weekend of birthdays. We went to my folks house for their annual labor day party. Gabby had a great time playing with my friends little boy.

September:
The biggest milestone was that Gabby started sleeping through the night. We didn't realize how tired we were until we started getting sleep. Also I started a new job, I am still at the same company but I took on a different position. I am now working in the Governance and Continuous Improvement division of my company as a Project Manager and I am loving what I am doing! I get to do analysis of metrics and create pretty spreadsheet. Another big milestone is that we started construction on the house addition! It's great to see it starting to come together.

October:We took Gabby to a few different Trick or Treat events, one was at the MN zoo and she loved looking at all the animals.Gabby has really started talking a TON and also is signing a bunch of works. It's awesome to communicate with her.

November: 
The house is starting to really come together and they have it almost all the way framed in. It's going to be amazing to see it completed in February.  Gabby started Swimming Lessons and loves going. We are going to sign her up for another set of them in March when she is older. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents and Gabby's Great-Grandpa. He loves being around her and had a great time.

December: 
My cousin had her little baby girl and we are so happy to have her in our family. Gabby moved to the toddler room at daycare and was even in the christmas show this year. She did such a great job! She didn't really like sitting on Santa's lap but we will try again next year. We celebrated Christmas with all the family and even took a trip to the MN Zoo. Mike and I love being members to the Zoo. It's nice to be able to go there for just a few hours at a time.

Wishing everyone a Wonderful, Happy Holidays and a Great New year!! Welcome 2012.

Wordless Wednesday

Working Mama's Work Life - Part 2

When the hubby and I moved to the Twin Cities from College and I got the job at SUPERVALU working for some awesome people I thought it was great. I saw myself staying there for a long time and just keeping working as an admin assistant. I had fun, I loved the people I worked with it was great.

Mark was an awesome boss. He really believed in his employees and if you worked hard then you knew he would be behind you and support you. I still remember when I first started working for him I was so scared. He was yelling at someone on his phone and I thought, oh no! what did I get myself into. The first time I had a meeting with him he told me that I needed to go skydiving in order to work for him. I thought HECK NO!! That will never happen!

Yep that's me skydiving!

That's Mark in the green suit in the plane

Well as you can see by the pictures I did go skydiving. I still can't believe that I did it, but I did. It was one of the most intense experiences I have ever had! I would say it ranks up there with childbirth. I am scared of heights and scared of planes and here I was jumping out of one at 13,000 feet. Looking back it was more than just skydiving. Mark had a passion for this that he shared with everyone and tried to get so many people to do it with him. He was out there every weekend and jumping so many times each day. What Mark was sharing with me though was a valuable lesson that I think of all the time. He taught me that we can do anything we set our minds to. If you want to do something whether in your personal life or in your work life you can achieve it once you set your mind to. He helped me learn the confidence that I needed to have and that I could be whatever I wanted to be.

From my job with him as his assistant he gave me opportunities to learn more about the supply chain industry. I also because a Business Analyst because of him. He allowed me to work on a project that he was the sponsor for and I learned so much from those few years that I worked on it. I met a lot of cool people doing it as well and I use those skills in my job every day now!

Mark left SUPERVALU and soon after that his passion for skydiving was what took his life. He passed away in a tragic skydiving accident. It was heart breaking to me. At this time I had moved on from SUPERVALU to another company - that wouldn't have been possible without his support. I owe my career to this man that believed in me and knew he could trust me with the work he gave me. I know you are watching over people Mark and I just want to thank you!!

Keep an eye out for part three next Monday....

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to Everyone out there reading this blog. I hope this posts finds you all healthy and happy.

This year is a little strange for us here, we have NO snow. You will hear me complain a lot over the course of the winter that I hate snow, that I don't like the cold. But even I have to admit that Christmas is just not Christmas without snow. Last year at this time we had like 17" of snow already. You couldn't see over the snow banks at the end of the driveways and we ran out of places to put the snow. This year all you see when you look around is brown and ugly grass. We have had a few snow flurries here and there, but because we don't have the big snow pack the weather has been up into the 40's. We are expected to hit 40 the day after Christmas this year. How crazy is that!

December 2011

December 2010

It also just doesn't feel like Christmas in our household because we don't have any decorations up. Those that know me know that Christmas is my favorite time of year. I have about 4 or 5 boxes full of decorations (Thanks Mom, Aunt Claire & Cousin Kim for all that stuff) and a tree. I like to add lights outside, with two reindeer, but not this year. Since we are under construction at the moment, all the places we normally put the decorations is filled up. Either it's filled up with boxes of other stuff, is under construction or is in a place where it would be dust filled in a matter of no time. So we just didn't put it up.

Although it doesn't feel like Christmas Mike and I are very grateful for another great year in our life. Our house was filled with Gabby's laughter this morning and that's the best gift that I could ask for. A Happy and healthy family and a roof over our heads.

A Merry Christmas to all!!

Wordless Wednesday

In honor of Gabby starting in the toddler room this week. I wanted to post a picture of her from when she first started Daycare.

Gabby & Mike after he picked her up from Daycare

Playing with her new cars her first day home from the toddler room at daycare

Working Mama's Work Life - Part 1

I figured since this blog is called Working Mama I might want to write about more than just the mama part. Lately I have been thinking about my life and a lot of what if's. I wasn't thinking that I would change anything, it was more thinking, what if such and such didn't happen would I still be here today.

I had a rough start in college. All my life (and I am talking from when I was super little) I wanted to be a veterinarian. I had even drawn up how my clinic was going to look and how many kennels I was going to have. Then I got into High School and realized that I had a different type of brain and that science and math weren't totally my thing. Heading into College I had really NO idea what I was going to be. So what did I do - Started out as a Computer Science Major...seems that I have come full circle.

My college days went like this:
Freshman year - Almost got kicked out (my GPA was a .75) I was a computer science major, psychology major and then I had no idea.
Sophmore year - Decided on my major after taking a women's studies class. I really wanted to be a Women's Studies major.
Junior year - Added on a Communications major onto my women's studies major.

I think my parents had a mild (okay maybe a major) panic attack when I told them this - what are you going to do with that major. I had planned on working for some cool non-profit and eventually opening up my own after school girls program (which is not totally out of my mind today).

Anyway - fast forward after college, and during college I worked for not 1 but 2 really cool non profits Dads and Daughters and New Moon Publishing. I met a lot of really cool people and was able to work there until my Hubby and I moved to the Twin Cities.

I came to the realization that living in the cities was expensive and that jobs were scarce. So I temped for awhile and that's how my time in IT started. I was an Administrative assistant for a really cool guy Mark. He was one of the best bosses I have ever had! I really owe him a lot. I owe him where I am today.

More later.....

16 Months

16 Months

 

Weight

Not sure but still a little peanut

Clothing Size

12 to 24 Months
12-18 Month Pants - 18 -24 Months Shirts

Diaper Size

Up and Up 3

Feeding

Whole Milk during the day at daycare
Kelly at daycare has been pretty good about getting you to eat what I send. You normally though are still only eating a few favorites: Greek Yogurt, Bananas, Peanut Butter, Bread, Pizza (Without cheese), Peas, Oatmeal, Raisins, Cinnamon Cheerios and most anything in purees.
You nurse from mama about 2 maybe 3 times a day during the week, sometimes more on the weekends.


Bedtime/Wakeup Times

 Bedtime: anywhere from 6:00 - 7:15
Wakeup Time: usually around 6am
Naptimes: You vary from day to day, sometimes only take 1 two hour nap

Milestones

* You are still working on some more teeth - seems like you have been working on them forever, but you still only have the 6 total.
* You are signing a ton now when you want something, More, Milk, Nurse, Please, Thank you, eat
* You also have a lot of words that you use, Baby, Bye,Hi, Ma (for Mac), Ball, Mama, Dada, Ball, Peassss (Please)
* You had your last day in the Infant 2 room. Mama had to clean all your stuff out of your cubby. You start on Monday in the Toddler room with Miss Carrie. I know you are going to miss Leo and Kelly. Leo doesn't move in to the next room until a week from when Gabby does. Luckily Issac is already there, so she will have him to play with.
* You finished your swimming lessons - we are going to sign you up for Parent Child 2 in March when you are 18 months old
*  You mimic us so much now. You tried putting lotion on the puppy the other day and you know that you are supposed to put lotion on your hands and rub your hands together :)

The Mom Pledge

I just want to thank the Mom Pledge for featuring Working Mama on their blog yesterday. Thanks so much!!

If you haven't checked out the Mom Pledge blog you should it's a great community of mama bloggers. The Mom Pledge is about "Coming together to eradicate cyber bullying among moms. That is our mission. This is our community."

Here is the link to the Mom Pledge

Wordless Wednesday

Gabby being very creative in her drinking - whatever works

She loves playing with anything electronic

The Daily Corgi

I want to thank Laurie over at The Daily Corgi for featuring my awesome little furkid Mac as the Daily Corgi today:

Check out the entire post here

Extending Nursing

Hi My name is Jessica and I am an extended nurser. There I said it...My little girl is almost 16 months old has been a great nurser almost since day one. A friend of mine asked me the other day how it worked with nursing her now, so I thought this would be a great time to blog about how it works for me. I know a lot of mama's out there that are extended nursers and my hats are off you to.

Honestly when I first became pregnant I knew I wanted to nurse but I wasn't sure how long. I had some people telling me "oh just wait until she gets teeth" or "oh just wait until you go back to work". Nursing was a lot of hard work but I wouldn't change a thing. It's something that I am blessed to be able to provide for my child. There are a lot of mama's out there that aren't able to do this and I have been lucky enough to nurse her even after I have stopped pumping.

I know I have blogged about this in the past a lot, but the first few months were tough. Actually the first few weeks were really tough and I almost quit so many times! I can't count how many times I sat in my glider in Gabby's room holding her and crying my eyes out. Either it was painful, she wouldn't/couldn't latch, or I just had no freaking clue what I was doing. With the strength and support of my husband, friends and the lactation consultant however I made it through.

I pumped for about a year and while that took a lot of sacrifice I am glad I didn't give up. I was lucky enough to have a job that was flexible and allowed me to work from home a few days a week to work pumping into my schedule. Plus my office had a great mother's room. All things that helped out. When I first started out I knew that I wanted to nurse her for 6 months to a year. I knew that I would pump until then and when I could switch her to whole milk that I would stop pumping. I never really thought about anything after that. As time went on I decided that I was going to 18 months (Which will be this coming February) for nursing. Now however I really don't have an end point. I decided to leave it up to my little one and have her wean herself when she is ready - which let me tell you is no time soon.

Gabby is very opinionated in her little 15 month old self. She knows what she wants and she makes sure you are aware of it. We taught her the sign for milk, but she never uses it anymore. She created her own sign for nursing and if you don't listen to her she goes over to the couch or the glider in her room and points to it and then to me. She knows that I am the only one that can nurse her and if I still don't listen to her she comes over and climbs into my lap and tries to pull up my shirt. I have to say its the cutest thing ever to have my little one communicate with me and tell me what she wants.

And up until two days ago she wouldn't take a sippy of milk from me except if we were leaving from daycare. Its actually not as much nursing as it used to be. I have to say that when I would hear someone was nursing their toddler I couldn't imagine it. How can you nurse a child 5 to 6 + times a day when they are older. It didn't make sense to me. As Gabby has gotten older her nursing has gotten less and less, so it's even easier now than it used to be.

When she was first born she was nursing all the time. There were times when she would even cluster feed, every hour for like 6 to 7 hours. It was tough, but we got through it. We got through the over supply issues, we got through her getting teeth, got through how her ear infections affected it. Now I only nurse her a few times a day, sometimes more on the weekends, but it's a great time for the two of us to be together.

Our schedule is pretty easy. During the week she wakes up between 4:30 and 6:30. I nurse her and if it's anytime earlier than 6:00 she usually goes back to sleep. She then eats breakfast while we get her lunch ready for the day. She has anywhere from 8 to 16oz of whole milk, plus her mid day snack and lunch. When she gets home from daycare we have dinner and then around 7:00 or so we get ready for bed and I nurse her one last time before she goes to bed and we repeat. On the weekends it's a lot of the same, except she usually just nurses from me instead of getting the whole milk.

It is a pretty easy schedule and I have a feeling as she gets older it will be easier as we go. If you made it this far thanks for reading all the way through! A hats off to all the mama's that are extender nursers, all the SO's and supporters out there that help these mama's make it so far! and even a hats off to just all the mama's that provide for their little ones.