Be Brave Mommy

That is what Alexa told me when she saw me running inside when we saw a mouse in our garage. Now I will admit I am afraid of lots things. Mice are not scary to me, but not knowing where the mouse is and when he is going to run out in front of me scares me. So as I was getting Addison out of the car with Alexa by my side we saw the mouse. Alexa said, "Be Brave Mommy, we are pirates and pirates are brave." Haha I love her and her encouraging words so much.

Recently Alexa has started saying things that have really surprised me. It has me realizing how much she is picking up on things she watches on TV, sees when we are in public and hears from Justin and I. I am making a really conscious effort to make sure she is only exposed to good role models. No more Mommy TV while Alexa is awake. Here are a few of my favorite Alexa quotes

• "Red is the new Pink" (No idea where this came from)
• "We only play with girls and teachers." (This hurt Daddy's feelings a little bit)
• "Oh dear me."

On to Ms. Addison. She has been a great office assistant over the last few weeks. My goal in the mornings is to start working quietly and early so she can stay asleep. Once she wakes up, I feed her and let her play on the floor for a little while. When she starts getting fussy I let her sit on the couch next to me. She usually chews on her fist and smiles at me. It is always refreshing to have a happy baby smiling at your when you are dealing with the stresses of work.

Addison is becoming even more vocal. Usually its happy sounds but we do get the occasional crappy cakes, particularly when we are in the car. We still do not do enough tummy time. She does like sitting up in her boppy and playing with her kicking toys. She is doing awesome with breast feeding. We are back to doing 1 feeding at night after 3 weeks of sleeping through the night. Oh well! During the day she eats every 2-3 hours. Sometimes she goes more but I do not track her time. Instead I just feed her when I think she is hungry. So far so good. Hopefully she will keep this up until we start food in just a few months. She still wont take a bottle. At this point I am not going to push it. I plan on working from home for at least the next few months so we should be OK.

The last few weeks I have started making great progress in finding balance. Before Addison was born I felt I had a good handle on the house, Alexa and work. Once Addison came things were throw off balance and it took me a few months to find out how things were going to work out. Cutting my hours to part time has been amazing. My afternoons are spent running errands, cleaning the house & one on one time with Addison. The extra time has opened up our evenings. We now have uninterrupted family time. I can tell the happiness level in our family is increasing & that's what its all about.

We are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving in Chicago & then getting ready for Christmas. :)